The Anglican church has severed ties with a Ugandan cleric who ministers to gays.

Rev. Christopher Senyonjo, 82, told the AP that he now lives off “gifts” to support himself after the Anglican church cut off his pension.

Senyonjo's sympathetic views toward gay people got him barred from presiding over church events in 2006.

He said Anglican leaders in Uganda told him to “condemn the homosexuals.”

“I can't do that, because I was called to serve all people, including the marginalized. But they say I am inhibited until I recant. I am still a member of the Anglican church,” Senyonjo said.

Senyonjo, who has 10 children, ministers to gay people from a small 1-room makeshift church.

Earlier this year, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed legislation which allows up to life imprisonment for the crime of “aggravated homosexuality.”

Senyonjo said his pension was severed as “a kind of punishment” over his support for gay rights.

“They [church leaders] cut off my pension,” he said. “It is very difficult even for my family. But I know the truth and it has made me free.”