Singer Sir Elton John says he believes
conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh supports gay unions.
Sir Elton was widely criticized for
accepting a reported $1 million for performing at Limbaugh's fourth
wedding. He entertained Limbaugh's more than 400 wedding guests into
the wee hours.
The 63-year-old Sir Elton entered a UK
civil partnership with filmmaker David Furnish in 2005. The
couple welcomed a baby boy on Christmas Day.
In
a new interview with Rolling Stone, Sir Elton said he
believes Limbaugh is not anti-gay and supports gay unions.
“I could not believe when I was asked
to play,” he said. “I thought it was a joke. I had dialogue
with him before and he said, 'I'm not anti-gay, I want you to come,
bring David.' My goal is for Rush to say, 'I support civil
partnerships,' and if I rang him right now, I think he might agree.
He was one of the first people to congratulate us on the baby.”
Limbaugh, however, has publicly said he
supports civil unions.
In 2008, after voters approved
Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban, Sir Elton said domestic
partnerships, a union similar to his own civil partnership, should
suffice for gay and lesbian couples.
On his radio program, The Rush
Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh addressed the controversy by noting that
Sir Elton – like himself – did not support gay marriage.
“Elton John is not married to David
Furnish, and Elton John is not a supporter of gay marriage,”
Limbaugh told his audience. “Elton John is on the same page as I
am, as is Obama on gay marriage. He's for civil unions, but he's not
for marriage.”
But last month, Sir Elton moved off
that page. The
Rocket Man singer raised more than $3 million performing for
the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), a group formed
specifically to support a legal challenge to Proposition 8.