Tim Farron, who has been attending his party's conference in Brighton, said he didn't understand why a reluctance to clarify his position had caused some upset.
Asked whether he understood the criticism he had encounter, he said: "No, is the honest answer, because I think people look at my liberalism, my desire to support people's rights to make whatever choices they want, and I kind of also expect in the same way people - maybe it's a naive expectation - to respect my beliefs as a Christian."
"And obviously that means a whole range of things about how I then choose to live my life. It also means that I don't go around pointing the finger at anybody else.
"I don't go making pronouncements on theological matters. And I think as someone who is a liberal, everybody has the right to marry who they want to marry, love who they want to love, and that's the position we take."
The decriminalisation of sex work was overwhelmingly supported during a consultative meeting at the Lib Dem conference and Mr Farron said he would back the move, "if the evidence points in that direction."
He added: "You have got to be guided by the evidence, whatever it might be. And if the evidence points in that direction, then that's where we should go, but it's important we should have this consultative session."