The British pop celebrity Elton John lamented the “rising swell of anger and homophobia” within the United States and described a number of laws recently passed in Florida that curtail L.G.B.T.Q. rights as “disgraceful.”
“It’s all going pear-shaped in America,” John, a longtime chief for homosexual rights and visibility, stated in an interview printed Tuesday in Radio Times, through which he pointed to a rise in violent incidents and up to date laws curbing rights. “We appear to be going backwards. And that spreads. It’s like a virus that the L.G.B.T.Q.+ motion is struggling.”
More than 520 pieces of such legislation have been launched in over 40 states this yr, a report, based on the Human Rights Campaign, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group.
“I don’t prefer it in any respect,” John stated, referring to the more and more hostile local weather. “It’s a rising swell of anger and homophobia that’s round America.”
John, 76, will headline Glastonbury, Britain’s largest music competition, on Sunday, as his prolonged closing tour, Farewell Yellow Brick Road, heads towards its finale in Stockholm on July 8. The tour, which can have had over 330 dates, started in 2018 however was interrupted by the pandemic in addition to John’s hip surgical procedure.
As he ready to carry out at Glastonbury, the final British date on the tour, John stated that he didn’t know if the rising anti-L.G.B.T.Q. sentiment is as prevalent in Britain. “I don’t know if it’s round Britain, as a result of I haven’t been right here that a lot,” he stated.
But he known as the scandal across the outstanding British news anchor Phillip Schofield — who not too long ago resigned after admitting he had a relationship with a youthful man — “completely homophobic.”
“If it was a straight man in a fling with a younger lady, it wouldn’t even make the papers,” John stated.
In the interview with Radio Times, John stated he may ultimately be open to doing a residency after his farewell tour ends, “however not in America.” That, his representatives stated, is for a similar cause that he had determined to cease touring: He needs to spend extra time along with his husband and youngsters, who reside in Britain.
Content Source: www.nytimes.com