In a new interview, singer-actress
Dionne Warwick says she doesn't judge gay people.
The 78-year-old Warwick ranks second
only to Aretha Franklin as the biggest female hit maker of all time,
based on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts.
Speaking with PrideSource,
Warwick was asked about when her LGBT following started.
“Apparently, it had started before
[the AIDS crisis], when I was singing gospel music as a teenager. The
young man who played piano for our group was gay, but that was his
lifestyle, that’s what he chose as a lifestyle. Who am I to judge
him? He didn’t judge me. So, you know, everybody does what is
satisfying to them to do, and I let you live your life and you allow
me to live mine,” Warwick
answered.
“He was wonderful to be around,”
she continued, “and could play a piano like nobody else. He was a
human being, OK – that’s the way I look at people. I can’t
judge you for your preference – that’s your choice, not mine. You
gotta be who you are and I’ve gotta be who I am and that’s just
the way it’s supposed to be.”
When asked whether she believes gay
people are born gay, Warwick answered in the affirmative, then added
that it's a chosen lifestyle.
“Absolutely. It’s not only the way
you’re born, it’s the lifestyle you’ve chosen to live and
that’s your choice. I can’t define what it means or how it
happens or why it happens or when it happens. It just is. I look at
it that way,” Warwick said.