Prince crashes into the gay marriage debate

First, Elton John raised questions about the fight for gay marriage. Now, Prince has entered the gay marriage debate. In the New Yorker, Prince is quoted as by writer Claire Hoffman as sounds perhaps less than supportive of gay marriage:

Recently, Prince hosted an executive who works for Philip Anschutz, the Christian businessman whose company owns the Staples Center. “We started talking red and blue,” Prince said. “People with money -- money like that -- are not affected by the stock market, and they’re not freaking out over anything. They’re just watching. So here’s how it is: you’ve got the Republicans, and basically they want to live according to this.” He pointed to a Bible. “But there’s the problem of interpretation, and you’ve got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn’t. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you’ve got blue, you’ve got the Democrats, and they’re, like, ‘You can do whatever you want.’ Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right.”

So began the damage control. Elizabeth Snead at the Daily Dish reports the aftermath:

According to Perez Hilton, the New Yorker piece is dead wrong. He quotes a source close to Prince as saying that the New Yorker piece is "grossly misquoted" and all wrong. .... But the New Yorker stands by its story. Prince's anti-gay statement is already reverberating around Los Angeles' gay community. At Train, a popular West Hollywood gym, openly gay spin instructor Tevia Celli told her packed Sunday morning class that she had removed all Prince songs from her playlists.

-- Shelby Grad

Photo: Peter Kramer/Getty Images

Comments

[Tim Butler]

"Prince's anti-gay statement..."

Prince did not make an anti-gay statement. Frankly, he didn't really make any clear statement at all.

He apparently disagrees with gay marriage, but that doesn't mean he is "anti-gay," just that he is anti-gay marriage.

Again, this whole debate is over the word "marriage," not any substantive rights. Under California law, same-sex couples have the same rights as straight couples, except that they cannot use the word "marriage."

[Patrick]

Mr. Butler,
Under California law, domestic partnerships grant many of the same substantive benefits of marriage, but they do not grant all of them. For example, married people cannot be compelled to testify against each other in court, but domestic partners can. While same-sex marriages are recognized in other jurisdictions that permit same-sex marriages, domestic partnerships are not. There are over 900 substantive benefits in California law that are extended to married people but not to domestic partnerships. More importantly, actual rights of domestic partnerships are routinely ignored in critical situations such as medical emergencies.
Also, using the word "marriage" itself is a substantive right. If it weren't, why would people fight over it so much?
Thus, Mr. Butler, you are dead wrong when you say that domestic partnerships convey the same rights as marriages.

[Tyler Mott]

"Gay marriage" being granted by any government means that the granting government is agreeing that people are born gay and do not choose to be gay. People who think that they are gay are not willing to recognize that many other people do not believe them and hope that they repent of what many believe are immoral behaviors.

Many people who oppose "gay marriage" have said that it has nothing to do with homosexuality - just marriage. This is not an honest argument. Most people who are opposed to gay marriage are really opposed to government endorsing the gay lifestyle in anyway.

By throwing the Hell Mary pass to force "gay marriage" down the throats of all people by judicial fiat, "gay marriage" proponents & those who think they are gay are creating unnecessary annimosity from others. If proponents of "gay marriage" want it allowed so much, they need to be the ones to take this issue to the voters & they need to stop attacking people who do not agree with their radical agenda. This is not a civil rights issue to many people.

By protesting people's churches for taking stands against what churches believe is immoral behavior, gay activists look like bullies. By taking this issue to the courts & by saying things like "It's going to happen whether you like it or not," people who believe they are gay are not endearing themselves to anybody. They are hurting their own cause.

Maybe people who think they are gay should try taking baby steps to change laws & not go for the jugular quite yet. Americans in 30 States have now showed resoundingly they are not ready for such changes. "Gay marriage" is opposed by wide margins among American voters.

[greg]

I was incredibly disappointed to read about Prince's comments on gay marriage. I guess I jumped to conclusions and expected this effeminate man to be more sympathetic to equality.

But my true disappointment lies with another entertainer, namely Madonna. She has made her career courting gays and they have supported her through thick and thin. She did make some belated comments after the election, but I guess her Kabbalah (which is incredibly anti gay) came in the way.

I know that me severing my business with both Prince and Madonna will send the bigots off to buy their records. And that is fine. But I will turn my ears to artists who don't just want my money but who believe that I am a truly equal human being to everyone else.

[MikeNYC]

First of all, why does anyone care what "Prince" has to say? I sure don't. Secondly, civil rights are for everyone. The idea that some think being gay is a choice makes little or no difference. I can choose to be Roman Catholic and you can't discriminate against my choice. Thirdly, same sex marriage is being forced down NO ONE's throat since NO ONE is being force to have a same sex marriage. However, the anti-marriage people ARE trying to force their beliefs down everyone's throat by telling others what they can and can not do. Don't be fooled that this has anything to do with "people of faith". I go to church every Sunday and am a person of faith and I believe everyone should have the right of marriage to the person of their choice. People who think otherwise are not "people of faith" but simply pretending to be.

[thark]

Gay is NOT A CHOICE!! When YOU "chose to be straight", what did that cross road look like? Who was this amazing same sex person that almost had you giving up your "God given" 1st class citizenship for a 2nd class citizenship, so you might pursue a long term gay relationship? What made you reject them, even though you could only feel sweet love and sweet lust for that person? And, when you were right there on the brink, at that fork in the road, & the time to decide was upon you, what exactly was going through your mind? What made you take this road you so proudly expound about? If you are brave enough to answer this question, you will have solved this whole gay rights question, so if you "know" as incontrovertibly as you say you know, FOR GOD'S AND SOCIETY'S SAKE, BE A HERO NOW, AND TELL US ABOUT IT. (or shut up with that sick and twisted "Choosing to be gay" diatribe...It won't work anymore and it doesn't belong here.)

The right thing to do is to tell us what happened at your cross road of leading a gay or straight life. We are all willing to listen to how people make that leap away from knowing in one's heart of heart that Gay's the way, like it or not? I'm fine with ME and my interracial same sex partner, but you have a duty to Gay kids who are now suffering even more secret anguish since this Prop 8 thing started spreading all over the news at the hands of all these hateful Prop 8ers (If they had just allowed The Constitution to prevail and not inflicted Pro 8 on everyone, this whole idea of Marriage would still be a concept of joy love and commitment for all consenting couples, regardless of the total vagina/penis count on Honeymoon night) Be the heroic figure you claim yourself to be and tell us.

[thark]

SHOULDN’T AMERICA BE THROUGH WITH ASSIGNING SECOND CLASS CITIZENSHIP TO MEMBERS OF ITS OWN SOCIETY? To all persons of Age, please consider that you have information that we all need to hear: what were your thoughts each time you saw a "colored drinking fountain"? What were people saying when heroic black soldiers were given inferior supplies, yet after returning from WII alive, found that whatever rank they achieved in battle, became meaningless at home? Were there women that you knew who rose to the occasion & ran factories & kept America going at home, only to be shoved back into the kitchen and told to be beautiful, because the ruling power of Men said it was to everyone's advantage? Did you know anyone for whom this kind of blanket reversal in favor of 2nd class citizenship was more of a curse than an advantage? Whatever wisdom you can offer is valuable because you have seen change before. After all, doesn't it give you a certain sense of comfort knowing that this isn't the olden day, and if you wanted to try for a job you could do well at 80, no one could legally stop you? In this, the only context, Prop 8 must be considered an abomination to the rectitude and promise of The California Constitution. Luckily our Supreme Court has already set the stage to protect it from this crazed trend toward mob-rule.