I think if two people love each other, then what the hell? I think that everyone should have the chance to be equally miserable, if they want. … It’s the new tolerant me!
—Eminem, the 37-year-old rapper, has a new record and a new way of thinking about same-sex marriage out. And it officially makes his views on the subject more forward-thinking than his one-time stage partner Elton John, who insisted, “If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership..” [via]
jamison
and you know what, i think if given the opportunity, even Eminem would turn down a gig at Rush’s wedding. so +2 Eminem. -2 Elton.
samthor
Eminem’s past anti- gay lyrics were mostly due to ignorance and bad habits; but that’s the sort of stuff that can be reformed. And he has… a little. The guy’s no saint, but I prefer him over Elton John selling out to Rush Limbaugh.
Yet Another
LoL, Queerty has to give Kudo’s to Eminem so they throw an actual homosexual under the bus so the post isn’t too positive… Just couldn’t let this post be about Eminem could you? As you said “ONE-time stage partner” so why would Elton even come up in the post unless you were trying to drive page hits and incite rabid posters?
james_from_the_great_city_of_cambridge
@Yet Another: When that homosexual deserves to be thrown under the bus, he should. Elton John is a sell-out, a greedy, evil little queen who mistreats the people around him and throws the gay community under the bus regularly. The latest example, of course, is that he performed at the wedding of the very right-wing, pill popping fellow fatso Rush Blimpbaugh for a million dollars. I guarantee you that Eminem cares more about our community than that fat c**t Elton.
Robert
Elton John is a rich fat idiot who owns homes in many parts of the world and is completely disconnected with the gay community. He does not face the hardships that regular gay people face and he never will. He lives in a privileged balloon where he can go around claiming to support gay rights yet perform at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding. Would he perform at a gay wedding? I don’t think so.
EdWoody
Jeez, he’s 37? Yikes, that crept up fast.
tjr101
Had someone told me just two years earlier that Eminem would be more in favor of marriage equality than Elton John I would’ve said “when hell freezes over.”
It must be very cold down there now.
Hilarious
Wait so because a celebrity homophobe changes his tune now that’s it’s popular in Hollywood to do so he’s suddenly worth promoting?
He’s shouted faggot far more than Isaiah Washington.
Total hypocrisy.
TonyD
You saw how his marriage to his wife, Kim went? Hell! I bet he wants everyone to suffer the same fate! 😉 I’ve experienced several friends marriages after college going to shit 5-6 years later and as a gay man, I fear the same fate. Do I really want the same thing? I’ll continue to fight for the choice, but I hesitate to dream of “happily ever after” for anyone.”
slobone
@Yet Another: I agree. All of a sudden Eminem is our new best friend because he answers a question with a non-homophobic response? After all the horrible things he’s said in the past?
Meanwhile Elton John gets slammed for saying what he actually thinks, which doesn’t happen to agree with current political correctness. Never mind that he came out years before any American star of comparable magnitude — oh wait, there still isn’t an American star of comparable magnitude who’s come out. Not to mention that he did more to raise public awareness of AIDS than almost anybody.
Phooey.
jason
Don’t fall for the notion that Eminem is this wonderful new friend of the GLBT community. He ain’t. He’s a creepy earth- worm who made a lot of money pretending to be black. His whole act is tailored to the mentality of dumb, straight, white kids who like to use words like “fag”.
He kind of reminds me of the reprehensible Axl Rose, except for the short hair.
Dollie
Go figure.
Can we revoke Elton John’s gay card yet?
TonyD
@Dollie: Maybe Elton’s on the right path: instead of building more walls with douche bags, be the better person, and extend a hand of peace in a nest of bigots, during Rush’s wedding, nonetheless. What’s Fox New’s retort,” How dare that homosexual man act civil, invite Rush and his wife into his home with his homosexual boyfriend, and take Rush’s cash at his request?” Heaven forbid, no one was on the offense or defense at the occasion, and something may have sunk into a homophobe’s thick skull that LGBTQs deserve dignity and they are incorrect.
Tim
That is very encouraging of Eminem to be supportive of love, be it gay or not. I fully applaud him and wish him success in his career with this new found wisdom, compassion and foresight.
STOP catagorizing Elton Johnas gay. He’s not. He’s a bigot in a Cher costume Cher wouldn’t even wear. Total Uncle Tom who the gay community should not be supporting one bit, as one of our own.
Robert in Austin
I think we need to separate the ceremonies known as “marriage” and “civil union” so we can get on with it and end this silly debate amonst the gays. Marriage is a religious ceremony – if your church does not recognize you and/or does not want to marry you then join another church! A civil ceremony is the government’s recognition of a bond between two adults and this is the one that should be open to everyone. A civil union is the one that protects and extends everyone’s rights in this country and it the one that needs to be demanded by us from the state and federal government as equality of all Americans.
The religious marriage ceremony for those who want it will eventually follow as some churches liberalize. I am not religious and I would never “marry” in a church – I want to have a legal civil union recognized by my government.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Looks like someone is slowly poking his head out of the closet………….
Tommy
@Robert in Austin:
I agree! That makes perfect sense, that would end all confusion. In fact, before any state in the US legalized gay “marriage” there were already certain churches like the Unitarian Church or Reform synagogues that were performing religious unions of gay couples. But these unions gave people no legal rights.
A civil union should be for both gay and straight couples who want legal rights and have nothing to do with religion.
But the problem is now is civil union is used just for gay couples and marriage for straight couples when they are having the same kind of civil ceremony not in a church in many cases.
Tommy
And Elton’s comments were in relationship to the situation in England where they have civil partnerships that give gay couples the same legal rights as marriage.
However, here in the US in states that have civil partnerships, couples don’t get the same rights as married couples because of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
He was saying civil partnerships are fine as long as they give people all of the same rights as “marriage”.
Yet Another
LMAO, of all the posts I’ve made, THAT one gets modded to hell?
I stand by it. Elton John should not have come up in this post. If you want to promote Eminem fine, do that. But the only reason to bring Elton John up was to get the above Rabid posters to drive hits to the site.
Frankly, I don’t put any more stock in Eminem’s words now than I did then. It’s all a public persona geared towards whatever image he’s trying to put forward.
Ronbo
@Robert in Austin:
My parents were married in a civil ceremony – downtown. It’s a marriage, not a civil union. A governmentally accepted contract between two individuals doesn’t make a civil union a marriage or a marriage a civil union. Learn the diffeerence. Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
Marriage includes over a thousand rights that are NOT afforded to civil unions. Ignorance is no excuse.
Yet Another
@Ronbo:
Neither is arrogance.
What he’s saying is we need to abandon the fight for the term “marriage” and strive for civil unions with equal rights. Let the phrase Civil union describe the legal relationship and guarantee protections and let those who want to be married define it by whatever the hell they want to: Family Values, Tradition, w/e.
Paschal
@james_from_the_great_city_of_cambridge: If Elton John has the mistaken pinion that civil partnerships granting the same legal rights but not the name as marriage are fine, then that’s his opinion. He should, however, still fight for the equality, dignity and respect all lgbt people deserve. People such as Elton John need to informed that the United Kingdom recognises civil marriage. Therefore marriage is a legal right in the United Kindom and the denial of that right to loving and commited gay couples is iscrimination in law.
BenR
My heterosexual parents, one of whom is spiritual but neither of whom are religious, got married in their then-backyard by a judge. There was nothing religious about their wedding, nor in the way they raised my brother and I. By all rights, their ought to have been a civil union. Unfortunately, there is an assumption in our society that heterosexual marriage = religious and homosexual marriage = civil, and that the two are mutually exclusive, and that no straight person could ever possibly want to simply be in a civil union, and no homosexual person could ever possibly want all the religious and spiritual trappings of a traditional wedding. This is where the idea of civil unions falls short. Gay couples should be able to be legally married in a religious institution if they want to. And straight people oughtn’t have all the religious trappings of marriage thrown onto them just because they want to be publicly and legally accountable to each other and to their offspring.
The linguistic games between “straight marriage” and “gay civil unions” are a sham. Everyone should have equal access to whatever form of union they and their partner choose.
geoffrey ZuHone
@EdWoody:
yeah, i was like seriously, thirty fucking seven?! no way…..
Yet Another
@BenR:
I just don’t think it matters that much. Give me the rights. They can keep their terminology.
Joe
“But if we can hump dead animals and antelopes
then there’s no reason that a man and another man can’t elope”
-The Real Slim Shady, 2000
Queer Supremacist
Marriage or nothing. Plain and simple. And it should be for gays only. Heterosexuals should be forced to suffer the same indignities we have suffered for millennia. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and all that.
Eminem is not our friend. Never has been, never will be.