Sir Ian McKellen is speaking out on gay
rights and where he likes to hang out.
In a Blackbook
interview, McKellen said anti-gay sentiment often persists even
after laws have been altered.
“You can change the laws, but
changing people's attitudes is another thing … prejudice is very
difficult to change … that's why you have to go on talking about
it. It's smart to put it in the statute books, but you can't shut up
a lot of people who have misunderstandings about homosexuality,” he
said.
U.S. audiences last saw McKellen, a
favorite actor in his native England, in cabler AMC's recent reboot
of 70s The Prisoner, in which he played 2.
On being gay, McKellen says people
often don't want to face sexual reality until it personally touches
them.
“People don't get it who have never
met a homosexual person, or read or watch anti-gay people in the
media, but when they discover that maybe their child is gay, there
can be the most amazing turnaround. It means that people have to
discuss the situation, and the situation is that there's no need to
make life miserable for those who contribute to the community and the
nation.”
“They should be embraced,” he
added.
When asked where he hangs out,
McKellen, the classically trained Shakespearian actor, said he likes
New York's The Box on gay night, Tuesday, and the Grapes Pub in
London.