Posted on 07/20/2007 3:22:06 AM PDT by monomaniac
SINGAPORE, July 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Unable to find a "gay bar" or display nudity in an upcoming performance of Shakespeare's "King Lear", British actor Ian McKellen has now called upon Singapore's government to overturn laws against homosexuality.
McKellen, 68, is known to millions around the world for his roles as "Gandalf" the wizard in the "Lord of the Rings" and for his role as the evil villain and mastermind "Magneto" in the "X-Men" Trilogy and has used his star-power to promote homosexual issues.
"Coming to Singapore where unfortunately you've still got those dreadful laws that we British left behind... it's about time Singapore grew up, I think, and realized that gay people are here to stay," McKellen said in an interview with Class 95 radio station, a member of the state-run MediaCorp.
Singapore's Penal Code Section 377A prohibits homosexual acts and solicitations as "gross indecency with another male person" with prison time of nearly two years. The law dates back to the city-state's colonial 19th century administration by the British Empire and is supported by the Singapore's largely conservative population.
McKellen is performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company touring productions of William Shakespeare's "King Lear" and Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull." The Company's world tour starts Thursday in Singapore at the Esplanade, South-East Asia's most modern performing arts centre. McKellen agreed to forbear on his planned nude scene where Lear is sent into exile, in order that minors under 18 in the tiny city-state could attend the performances.
"Call it censorship, call it advice, it gets in the way a little bit. I think it's a little bit silly," McKellen was quoted as saying at a tour briefing.
"As a gay man invited here with the full cognizance of the government, how can they not notice that my right to have sex are inhibited by the country?" McKellen complained in an interview with Reuters. McKellen told the press agency that he only cared to discuss acting and homosexuality saying, "I am just public on those two issues."
Discussing the weather would be an invasion of his privacy? ;)
"My PRESHussssssssssssssssss -- !"
Singapore sounds like a nice place.
Many liberals still believe that only Christianity that is against homosexuality...
This is probably the type of guy who believes that the West (US and UK in particular) is hated because of its foreign policies.
Dude’s planin’ for a canin’.
Wow! what a good actor!
He made it almost believable in his “regret” at leaving a beautiful woman (Mystique) behind.
I guess if it had been Juggernaut, we would have seen tears and Magneto throwing himself on his body...
And Viagra! There’s a Viagra shortage there too!
Ian you old pervert. Shut up and act. You’re just a trained monkey, deal with it.
I thought Jackson was going to make “the hobbit”. anybody gots any news?
Laws against homosexuality should be overturned. It’s not the government’s business, whether it’s the US government or the government of Singapore.
He was in a very good video version of Richard III. Why do good actors have to ruin our image of them talking about their perverse life?
They should arrest him, cane him, then kick him out. Their country, their laws
Gandalf the gay.
Nor is it the government’s business to promote the lifestyle (schools) or make special laws on their behalf.
2 years is nothing compared to what they do if they catch you with drugs.
ROFLMAO, good one!
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