No doubt Sir Ian McKellen's a super star. Long a queer icon, his roles in The Lord of The Rings and X-Men trilogies have granted him even more mainstream success.

The combined effect has given him such celebrity status that his mere breath requires a bit of virtual ink, as seen by this PageOneQ headline (see above).

But, seriously, it's a link to this article on McKellen's role as King Lear. We won't give away all the details, but we will offer his puzzlement over Hollywood's preference for closeted stars, particularly when so close to gayer-than-gay West Hollywood:

Can people whose minds work like that make good films? And if at the heart of Hollywood there is that lie, how many other lies are there?

• 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!]

• Despite widespread reports to the contrary, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue never named actor Sir Ian McKellen a honorary member to the state's National Guard. Not only does the position not exist, but the entire rumor mill began after a misappropriated quote in Rush & Molly. [NYB]

• You TiVo is tattling on you. [NYT]

• Little Miss Sunshine is a critics' favorite across the board, which is surprising — since it actually does look worth seeing. [HWT]

• Even Andy Towle agrees: Sex sells. [After Elton]

• Rather than let the federal government decide what TV programming to censor, the entertainment industry is launching a $300 million campaign to convince parents it's their responsibility to keep their kids safe. [LAT]

We don't know what it is about Sir Ian McKellen that makes everyone want to give him high honors. First the Queen of England knighted him, and now the governor of Georgia has given him the honorary title of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. army. He has the certificate hanging on his wall.

The only problem, Ian McKellen is much more openly gay than the officer who was outed at a gay marriage rally this month. In Ian's words, "So inadvertently, they made me the poster child for having openly gay people in the military."

McKellen breaks Pentagon gay policy [PinkNews]

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.

The bitches over at Defamer tipped us off to this little X-men doozy. Seems Ian McKellen and Hugh Jackman had a little sub textual spat during a Sci-Fi Channel round table interview. Obviously, and we’re sure the first director Bryan Singer will back us up here, “mutants” is synonymous with “gay.” At least that’s what Sir Ian thinks.

"There are people who think gay people can be cured," said McKellen (Magneto), who has spoken publicly about his own homosexuality. "My reaction to the idea that I can be cured as a mutant is as contemptuous as my view of people who say I need curing of my sexuality. The idea that black people could take a pill that would cure them of being black is abhorrent to me."

But Jackman, who some say might have a very large closet at home, responded:

Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine, took the other side, pointing out that there are other characters for whom the cure is more attractive. "Rogue [Anna Paquin], as amazingly powerful as she is, lives a potentially very lonely life," said Jackman. "Never being able to touch anyone, never being able to have a physical relationship, never able to have children. Now, as politically abhorrent as something like the cure is, it's also humanely, socially, incredibly understandable that a character like that would take it."

To which McKellen responded:

"It isn't necessarily her mutancy that's the problem," McKellen shot back. "It's other people's reaction to it. Maybe it's society that's wrong, not her."

Oh, SNAP! Of course, now this makes us want to see X3 even more just to see the nasty looks Sir Ian throws Hugh’s way.

X3 Stirs Cast Emotions [Sci Fi Wire via Defamer]

Leave it to Sir Ian McKellen to talk honestly and openly about sexuality in Hollywood. After the slew of gay themed films that came out of Hollywood this year, one would think that homosexuality is anything but taboo. We may have films about gays, but where are all the out gay actors?

"It is very, very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality and even more difficult for a woman . . . The film industry is very old-fashioned in California."

And he should know. The Lord of the Rings star has been out since 1988. It is easy to get wrapped up in the lives of fictional cowboys, but maybe Hollywood should be a bit more concerned about those who live lies among them.

Hollywood tough on gay actors, says McKellen [The Telegraph]