An anti-gay evangelist from the US has called for the reinstatement of homosexuality as a “mental illness” in the eyes of the American Psychiatric Association.

Writing on his website, Scott Lively said that “pressure and harassment by LGBT activists”, was the reason it was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual back in 1973, but called for it to be put back in.

He wrote: “In 1973, after an intensive campaign of pressure and harassment by LGBT activists, the board of the American Psychological Association voted to remove homosexuality as a mental illness from their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the ‘bible’ of mental health professionals. It was as if they opened Pandora’s Box and unleashed an invisible plague that attacks the reasoning centers in the brain.

“Now forty years later the evidence is overwhelming that the DSM should never have been modified. The only problem is that most of the people with the power to change it back are now homosexualists themselves, infected with the same disorder. God help us.”

Mr Lively is on trial for Crimes Against Humanity over his alleged support for the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill and recently gave backing for Russia’s anti-gay laws.