Choirmaster was left feeling 'vile' as gay Christian.

ONLY Men Aloud! star Tim Rhys-Evans yesterday revealed for the first time his torment at being a gay churchgoer.

The founder of the popular Cardiff-based choir said that bigotry against homosexual Christians had made him feel "vile" and as though an all-consuming disease was eating him inside.

Tim, the group's manager and music director, told religious radio show All Things Considered that even though he attended chapel regularly he found it difficult to reconcile his belief in God with his sexuality.

The singer said: "Some visiting preachers would be very vociferous in their bigotry - it made me think I was vile, that there was something inside me that was a cancer eating away at me. Always the line was that the moment you accept Jesus Christ into your heart, you won't be gay any more. That wasn't happening to me. I was as devout as I could possibly be and yet this still wasn't going away."

But the choirmaster, from New Tredegar, said that coming out and accepting his sexual orientation eventually deepened his faith. "This is between me and God and it's no-one else's business," he said.