Peeping Tom politician admits being gay

A former right-wing politician, accused of secretly filming boys in his shower, has admitted he is homosexual for the first time.

Trond Birkedal, who has been indicted for assaulting a 15 year-old boy as well as filming other youngsters in his home, was previously a member of the Norwegian Progress Party.

Speaking to Plot magazine almost seven months after his arrest, the 31 year-old said he has deliberately denied and repressed his sexuality since he first became aware of it in his early teens. “I have prejudices. A friend of mine is homosexual, but I am uncomfortable talking to him about it. It’s strange,” he told the magazine.

Birkedal added that he did not want to be outwardly gay for political reasons. “I’m not feminine. I don’t walk around with a bent wrist. I wince about the Gay Parade. Homosexuality has not defined me as a person. If I had told people that I was gay, I would have been rubbished. I hear what people say about gays when they are not there. You do not want people talking like that about you. So I put it on the shelf and thought I could come back to it another time,” he said in the Plot interview.

The former politician denies assaulting the 15 year-old but has sent emails to all the boys covertly recorded in his shower, expressing regret for what he did. Martin Bratland Andersen, the victim who first reported Birkedal to police, said, “He [Birkedal] shows great remorse and has apologised. I think he should be given the punishment the legal system thinks is correct, even if I forgive him for his own part.”

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