Rupert Everett: 'There's nothing worse than gay parents'

The star of the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love blazed a trail for gay actors when he came out as homosexual 20 years ago.
However, he has been criticised by gay rights groups after giving an interview in which he decried same-sex couples who have children.
The 53-year-old told the Sunday Times Magazine that his mother Sara had met his boyfriend but “still wishes I had a wife and kids.”
“She thinks children need a father and a mother and I agree with her,” he said. “I can’t think of anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads.
“Some people might not agree with that. Fine! That’s just my opinion.
“I’m not speaking on behalf of the gay community. In fact, I don’t feel like I’m part of any ‘community’.
“The only community I belong to is humanity and we’ve got too many children on the planet, so it’s good not to have more.”
Campaigners claimed his remarks were reminiscent of those who oppose same-sex marriages.
Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the campaign group Stonewall, said: "Rupert should get out a little bit more to see the facts for himself.
“There is absolutely no evidence that the kids of gay parents suffer in the way they are being brought up or in how they develop."
Everett also told how his family’s military background, which included his father serving as an Army Major, meant “some things were simply not talked about”.
His comments were part of a feature in which his mother was interviewed as well.
Mrs Everett, 77, told how she knew her son was gay from when he turned 18, and described her desire for him to have children.
“In the past, I have said that I wish Rupert was straight and, I probably still feel that,” she said. “I’d like him to have a pretty wife.
“I’d like him to have children. He’s so good with children. He’d make a wonderful father.
“But I also think a child needs a mummy and a daddy. I’ve told him that and he takes it very well. He doesn’t get angry with me. He just smiles.”
Their comments were likely to cause rancour with gay couples with children such as Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish, who have a one-year-old son, Zachary.
It is not the first time Everett has attracted controversy over interviews. In 2008, he apologised after calling soldiers “wimps” in The Sunday Telegraph.
Publicising his film The Victorian Sex Explorer in which he played Sir Richard Burton, he said: “In Burton's day they were itching to get into the fray. Now it is the opposite. They are always whining about the dangers of being killed. Oh my God, they are such wimps now!”
He has also previously spoken of his treatment after making his sexuality public, urging actors not to come out for fear of losing work.
In 2009, he said his admission had damaged his career and his work had been limited since the revelation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/relationships/9546091/Rupert-Everett-Theres-nothing-worse-than-gay-parents.html

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“I’ve now had all this hate mail and there have been death threats, too… All the queens out there now have it in for me. I’m loathed by them. I’m having to take evasive action,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

(...)

the institution of gay marriage, reports Gay Star News: “It’s just a waste of time in the heterosexual world, and in the homosexual world I find it personally beyond tragic that we want to ape this institution that is so clearly a disaster,” he said, continuing, “For me, being gay was about wanting to do the opposite of the straight world, so I think that’s where my problems in this particular area come from" (...)

http://www.inquisitr.com/347815/rupert-everett-backs-up-on-gay-parenting-comments-but-says-gay-marriage-is-beyond-tragic/