Jeff Dudgeon spoke out amid growing concern over an Advertising Standards Authority ruling last week, which came down against an advert opposing homosexuality.

Mr Dudgeon, who in 1976 lodged a legal complaint in Europe which ultimately forced the Westminster Government to decriminalise homosexuality in the Province, said the gay community itself didn't like being the victim of censorship.

The openly gay former civil servant believes legislative and cultural changes are such that the gay community should now be secure enough to allow critics the freedom of speech it was once denied.

Sandown Free Presbyterian Church in Belfast has been banned from re-running the advertisement which was published in the News Letter in August.

The church has now stopped advertising services, which it did for 40 years, after being "advised" by the ASA to seek guidance "before publishing future marketing material" – something it is not willing to do.

"I am not enthusiastic about it," Mr Dudgeon said of the ASA ruling. "I don't regard them (such adverts) as problematic for the gay community," he added.

"Things have progressed," said Mr Dudgeon, who represented the Ulster Unionist Party on the Bill of Rights Forum and once worked for Bob McCartney.

"At one time the DUP wanted me jailed; now they just want me to visit a psychiatrist," he added.

"I appreciate that young gay people thought things were moving forwards and then this happens – this advert with a medieval view. They were surprised to see it, but I am not."

Mr Dudgeon, who has written extensively on Britain's allegedly gay consul to Ireland, Sir Roger Casement (1864-1916), told the News Letter: "The Free Presbyterians and the DUP have been defeated on all fronts in their attempts to repel modernism, therefore I am not overly concerned by them.

"But there are important freedom of speech issues, especially regarding Christian biblical texts. You can waste time fretting about biblical texts rather than getting on with relevant issues – for example, real violence against the gay community."

He said gay people were making good progress in combating violence against them, but it was "a long road".

"It is worth taking issue with such an advert, but not trying to get it banned," said Mr Dudgeon.

"If you are trying to get words banned then the same thing can happen to you eventually. The victors today are essentially the gay community; it has triumphed.

"We need to remember that gay publications were banned for some 30 years. I would rather that both sides now had freedom of speech – not just the victors."

Mr Dudgeon's legal case against the Government, which went before the European Court of Human Rights, set a major precedent.

In a recent similar case in the US the outcome in Dudgeon v United Kingdom was approvingly cited by the United States Supreme Court – a rare example of a foreign case being mentioned.