Great interview with Ian McKellan; speaks out on DADT

[theHandpuppet]

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603316.html?hpid=features1&hpv=local
Here's an excerpt:

But he also credits the uptick in his show business profile with the growth of his comfort level with himself, a peace of mind that developed after revealing that he was gay in 1988 during a BBC radio program examining the Thatcher government's policies toward homosexuality. "It all happened since I came out, ironically," McKellen says of the Hollywood phase of his professional life.

<snipping>

Acting and gayness, in fact, are the two topics on which he feels qualified to speak out about. He doesn't talk much about his private life, although some mention of his romantic past -- a long relationship with the British stage director Sean Mathias, for instance -- is included on his Web site, http://www.mckellen.com. He remains a vocal advocate for gay rights, and at the moment, about the abolition of the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Asked recently in Britain to name his top three gay icons, McKellen says that his list included Harvey Milk, the assassinated San Francisco supervisor; the poet Walt Whitman -- and Marguerite Cammermeyer, who as a colonel in the early 1990s was the highest-ranking woman in the armed forces to disclose her homosexuality.

McKellen attended President Obama's inauguration earlier this year, and he professes some impatience with the progress of Obama's recently articulated aim to end the practice of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." He says the British Army has taken a more progressive stance on the issue, to the point of participating in a diversity program supported by Stonewall, a gay rights organization in the United Kingdom that he helped to found.

The actor recalls asking a top military official in London why the army there had had a change of heart. "He said, 'We need recruits,' " McKellen says, and he predicts the barriers that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" represents will soon come down in this country. "And you know why it will happen? They need recruits!"

[Divine Discontent]

1. that man.....

is a wonderful human being. I would love to meet him & tell him thank you for his wise comments, and, for his great acting in LOTR & X-Men.

[theHandpuppet]

2. Gods & Monsters is still my favorite

If you haven't yet seen this film, RUN, don't walk to the nearest video rental.

[Divine Discontent]

3. real nice, handpuppet! I fell and it's all your fault!!!

I will go get the film ASAP. thanks for the advice!

[joeybee12]

5. He was robbed of an Oscar for that...

...as well as for Lord of the Rings.

[theHandpuppet]

6. Totally agree

I was really pissed when he was denied the Oscar for Gods and Monsters.

[MountainLaurel]

4. Love what he said about the self-confidence

Associated with being out