A former U.S. governor who was once a vocal opponent of homosexuality has been given refuge during a corruption trial by a Catholic priest who was caught having sex with a man in 2002.

Former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell is known for opposing same sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws.

A self-confessed homophobic, McDonnell had removed an order signed by the previous governor meant to protect Virginia state workers from sexual discrimination.

The New Civil Rights Movement reported on August 26 that McDonnell and his wife Maureen are facing charges that they conspired to use McDonnell's position to gain money and gifts.

McDonnell's defense is that his marriage is in shambles that is why conspiracy won't be possible.

To prove his point, the former governor revealed that he is now living with Catholic priest Wayne Ball at the rectory of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Richmond, Va.

The gay priest is reportedly part of Mc Donnell's entourage and aids him in his trial defense. He is a family friend who officiated the wedding of Mc Donnell's daughter.

Father Ball was arrested on December 2002 and was charged with frequenting a place used for "lewdness, assignation, or prostitution."

He is said to have been interrupted in the middle of performing a "lewd" act with a 41-year-old Richmond man inside a parked car.

In his defense Ball told church officials he had bouts of depression and promised to seek psychiatric help.

Bishop Walter F. Sullivan decided that the diocese would not get involved since the incident did not involve children.

The Richmond-Times Dispatch reported that the charge was dismissed in 2003 after Ball fulfilled the terms of his plea agreement.

McDonnell, in his master's thesis written for Regents University in 1989, said that "the perverted notion of liberty that each individual should be able to live out his sexual life in any way he chooses without interference from the state," going on to hit gays and unwed mothers.

He had also been part of a Republican-led state crime commission that recommended criminalizing "sodomy that occurs in a public place" in 2005.

Ball, meanwhile blogged about the Mc Donnell case quoting the Bible, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone."