Mr Wheeler was speaking out yesterday following the furore over St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church’s very public support of traditional marriage earlier this week.

The “1 Man + 1 Woman = Marriage” message on the church’s noticeboard was gone yesterday, but there was still plenty of simmering anger in the community.

Mr Wheeler said the church’s very public opposition to same-sex marriage could put more pressure on young people struggling with their sexuality.   

He said it was much easier for him to come out as a gay man while living in Sydney than it is for many young people living in rural and regional centres.

“It was certainly topical to put that message up there, but it’s dangerous because somewhere a child is listening and that child was once me,” Mr Wheeler said. “I know what it’s like to be 17 or 18 and to know that you’re different and that sort of message can make you feel even more alienated.

“I’ve been to funerals even here in Bathurst of young people who felt they were not fitting in and while it’s mentioned that they suicided, it’s never mentioned that they were gay.

“I get very annoyed by that.”

Mr Wheeler said it had been encouraging to read the many messages of support for same-sex marriage on social media in response to the noticeboard, but he does not like seeing people from either side of the debate engaging in personal attacks.

“To put a message like that out there so publicly is asking for a reaction and some of them can get quite nasty, which is not what we want, but it does get the discussion going,” he said.

“What I say to people, though, is don’t tell me what is right for me when you haven’t walked in my shoes.”

St Stephen’s minister Reverend Tim Abbey told the Western Advocate on Monday that it was always his intention to update the message on the noticeboard on Tuesday – even before the furore kicked off. The message now reads “Jesus Christ Is The Same Yesterday + Today + Forever – Hebrews 13 At 8”.