Singer Sir Elton John on Saturday
declared that opponents of gay rights were losing and supporters were
winning.
John and his partner David Furnish on
Saturday were honored at the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) 18th
annual National Dinner in Washington, D.C.
In accepting the group's 2014 National
Equality Award, John pledged to help the HRC in its campaign to
expose anti-gay activists who are taking their rhetoric abroad.
“I'm sick and tired of being told
that I am less than because I'm a gay person,” John told the crowd,
estimated at over 3,000. “The dominoes are falling, we are
winning. And we have a long way to go but we are winning and we will
win.”
“And look at the 34 states [that] now
allow marriage in America. The haters are not winning. The lovers
are winning,” he said.
John, who founded the Elton John AIDS
Foundation with Furnish in 1992, also said that it was up to the gay
community to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, saying we had reached a
critical moment in the fight.
“This is the critical moment in our
fight and so many of us don't seem to care, even in our own
community. Especially in our own community,” he said, noting the
devastating toll the epidemic has taken on gay and bisexual men.
“We must put the same kind of
resources and dedication and creativity that we put into the battle
for marriage equality and apply it to the fight to end AIDS. … Just
like 30 years ago, if we don't lead this fight, no one will. Because
the truth is, [it's] up to us to end AIDS. It's really up to us.”
(The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)