Ian McKellen doesn't take anti-gay criticism well. Nor should he!

The famous actor spoke out this weekend against Scottish Bishop Joseph Devine, who this year blasted Queen Elizabeth for adding McKellen to the Order of Companions of Honour last year.

In his attack, Devine described gay activists, including McKellen, as "a giant conspiracy' which 'we [the catholic church] neglect at our peril."

Getting a bit of oratory revenge, McKellen took the following shot at not-so-divine Devine:

From the pulpit, homophobia is preached by some arrogant religious leaders who think their beliefs are superior to our inborn and, some would say, God-given nature.

The Bishop of Motherwell addressed his flock and told them how appalled he was that I had received an honour and that 100 years ago I would have been imprisoned like Oscar Wilde.

He feels that the Roman Catholic Church is beleaguered in some way.

Out actor Simon Callow also lambasted Devine, calling him "a profoundly ignorant and stupid man."

Ian McKellen made the decision to come out in 1988. Though loads of political and social progress has been made since then, the actor insists he still receives his fair share of anti-gay threats. None, however, are as pressing as the real violence many homos face on the day-to-day:

"There are deaths in public places on the grounds that the victim is gay," said McKellen in a BBC interview.

"There is a violence of language which can be related to violence in action," added McKellen a founder member of gay rights group Stonewall.

"My own death threats have declined considerably. I think I've become rather boring now to the public at large on this particular issue so I'm thought to be unremarkable."

And if there's one thing McKellen's not, it's unremarkable.

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We can thank Sir Ian McKellen for former b-baller John Amaechi's groundbreaking coming out. Amaechi, also known as our forever crush, recently told Pink News:

I nearly just decided not to ever go back to America and just stay here and say "let them froth around in their own mess," but I went to Manchester Pride and Sir Ian McKellen was the Marshal … I'm not very fluffy with these things and I'm quite cynical.

However, the sight of him waving and looking at the reactions of people to him waving, the sight in people's eyes of 'That's Gandalf, international superstar.'

I thought, obviously I am not anything like that status of superstar or even celebrity, but if on a smaller scale I could have an impact that would be a good thing.

We're going to go out on a limb here and say the gamble paid off.

The Rt Rev Joseph Devine doesn't read Hillary Clinton's playbook. The Bishop of Motherwell refuses to apologize after blasting a so-called "gay conspiracy". Devine alleges that we gay folk are working on a coalition with other "persecuted" groups, like Holocaust survivors. The Catholic leader also points a finger at actor Ian McKellen.

The homosexual lobby has been extremely effective in aligning itself with minority groups.

It is ever-present at the service each year for the Holocaust memorial, as if to create for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution. We neglect the gay movement at our peril.

I want to ask you if you are able to see the giant conspiracy that's taking place before our eyes, even if we didn't see it at the time. I take it you're beginning to see that there is a huge and well-orchestrated conspiracy taking place, which the Catholic community missed.

Drat! Our plans have been discovered! Abort, abort!

Actor Ian McKellen may be the most decorated of Britain's bent boys:

Sir Ian McKellen has spoken of his happiness at becoming a Companion of Honor for services to drama and equality.

"I am honored to join an Order which includes such distinguished practitioners in the arts. It is particularly pleasing that 'equality' is included in my citation," he said.

The Oscar-nominated actor is a founder member of gay rights organization Stonewall.

He was awarded a knighthood in 1990 and describes himself as "one of the very few openly gay knights".
…
The Order of the Companions of Honour consists of the Queen and only 65 ordinary members.

Recipients include Lucian Freud, Harold Pinter, Sir David Hockney and Dame Judi Dench.

McKellen's next film role isn't so honorable: he's playing South African colonizer Cecil Rhodes, a man many called queer.

Ian McKellen knows how to turn tragedy into comedy.

CONTINUED »

Openly gay actor Ian McKellen may want to call a pow-wow with "artist" Charles Merrill.

McKellen's apparently so incensed over Biblical condemnations of queers, he's taken to tearing out offending allusions from hotel copies of the holy book.

Unlike Merrill, who uses Biblical destruction and Qur’an torching as self-publicity, McKellen understands the implications of his censorship mission:

[McKellen] accepts he should not vandalize the Bible, but finds it difficult to contain his outrage at the contents of Leviticus 20:13* when he spots the holy book in hotels. "It's the one thing I find difficult to defend but do go on doing," he said.

At least he's not wiping his ass with them. Not that we know of, at least…

*Leviticus 20:13: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them."

• AfterElton interview with Sir Ian McKellan. We bet former stalker Rupert Everett read it already. Twice. [AfterElton]

• Historic British Sex? Yes, please! [Reuters]

• NY Governor Debate Turns Ugly Over Gays. What, you expected it to be pleasant? [365 Gay]

• Machester U Footballer Under Gay Fire. What? We call people faggotpoofs daily. Oh, right… [Life Style Extra]

• Gay Entertainer Murdered in England. Why?? [Pink News UK]

• Excerpt from The Beautiful Fall. Nothing's more intriguing than Lagerfeld and Saint Laurent in the 70s. Nothing. [Out]

• Horatio Alger Festival Name Change? Who didn't know about the molestation accusations? [Yahoo!]

We are foaming at the mouth to see the new X-Men 3 movie, especially now that we know Magneto will be extra fierce. The plot of the latest installment focuses on the idea that mutants can be "cured" of their mutantness. Now anyone who knows the X-Men knows it is a very thinly veiled metaphor for the gays, so gay actor Sir Ian McKellen, who plays maverick sometimes-villain Magneto, pretended during filming that he was blowing up Jerry Falwell and everyone else who believes that homosexuality is a disease with a cure. We already find comic book movies oddly moving, but we think this one might make us cry.

Ian McKellen Channeled Anger Into Role Of Magneto [Starpulse]

• ExxonMobil continues to refuse to include gays in their anti-discrimination policy, making them one of only two Fortune 100 companies that refuses to protect gays in writing. Mobil actually had included gays in their policy and provided domestic partner benefits before merging with Exxon in 1999, when both were rescinded. Someone at Exxon hates us. [CNN]

• Sir Ian McKellen could be "opening" for Oxford Pride in the UK. We're not sure what his opening act will be, but hopefully it will involve magic and a magnificent white horse. [Oxford Mail]

• Anti-gay groups now have a right to participate in Pride events in Harrisburg, PA. We can't wait to see their outfits. [365 Gay]

• We knew the Anglican church was having some disagreement over whether or not their bishops should be homos, but we never realized there was a "homosexuality crisis engulfing the church body." That sounds fun enough to make us go to church. [The Advocate]

Sir Ian McKellen is annoyed by the UK's gay marriage law, which is categorized as a "civil partnership." The CP has virtually all the same rights as a marriage–but they are still strictly categorized as distinct from heterosexual marriage. Conversely, hetero couples are not allowed to apply for one, they can only wed in marriage. Says McKellen:

"I really can't see why the government couldn't just say gay people can get married - that would have been true equality and so much simpler.

"But that hasn't been done because they couldn't face the furore (sic). So they've passed a law that is not available to straight people.

"Straight people cannot have a civil partnership, they have to get married. Extraordinary."

We tend to agree–it's a lot of busywork for nothing. Perhaps there are hetero couples want to wed somehow, but balk at the notion of what "marriage" means as an institution: i.e., the father giving away his daughter to another man, the bride taking the husband's name, etc. Obviously, these people would be very, very few; the vast majority of brides wanting to get married don't think of the socio-historical implications of that walk down the aisle. They just want to (a) get married to the guy they love and (b) look gorgeous. A friend once said "Even the staunchest of feminists have read at least one bridal magazine."

But you never know what people may want to do. If it works for straight couples, why not let them do it? By not letting heterosexual couples engage in a civil partnership, in a way it acknowledges that the gay version is inferior.

With that said: we think it's just a matter of time before all these separate "straight marriage vs gay marriage" distinctions are thrown out, to make things easier. Remember when interracial marriage was illegal? Exactly.