Paulo Coelho’s Blog

Your biography, written by Fernando Morais and recently published in Brasil, makes scandal because it pointed out that you had had three homosexual relations being younger. So what you think about homosexuality; about the vision of the Catholic church and others religions as well as of the political suppression concerning it in many countries?

It is not for me to judge the sexual choices of people(I wrote a book on that, “Eleven Minutes”). I had three homosexual relationships when I was 19, because my parents used to say “if you want to be an artist, this also means that you are homosexual”. They planted this doubt in my mind, and I decided to check by myself - I could never live with this interrogation mark for the rest of my life. I tried, I did not like, and I realized by then that I am not a homosexual. That said, I am convinced that people are free to choose, and sexuality, with few exceptions that involve forcing others to do something that they don’t like ( like rape and pedophily ) , is a personal choice.