Britain's leading gay rights group says a cardinal who resigned after admitting sexual misconduct should apologize to gay people for his "vicious and cruel language" about them.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien quit last week as Britain's top Roman Catholic cleric after being accused of inappropriate behavior by several priests.

O'Brien said that "my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal."

Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill said Monday that the group noted "with sadness that the cardinal didn't find it in him to apologize to gay people, their families and friends for the harm his vicious and cruel language caused."

O'Brien had been a staunch advocate of church teaching against homosexuality, calling same-sex marriage "a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right."