McKellen mocks Singapore gay laws

Malaysia Sun (IANS) Friday 19th October, 2007

Sir Ian McKellen found Singapore's gay laws annoying and decided to mock it by asking for a bar for homosexuals while being interviewed on TV.

McKellen, who announced decades ago that he is a homosexual, was in Singapore for a performance, reports contactmusic.com

He said: 'I didn't realise, as a gay man, that I'd be a criminal once I arrived because it's illegal for a man to make love to another man in Singapore. I was rather naughty because I was on an early morning show, the sort of show that happens all over the world on TV, where you get a couple who are clearly not married or related that flirt all the time, usually an older man with a younger woman.'

He added: 'At the end of the interview, they asked what was I looking forward to doing while I was in Singapore. And I looked at the man, who was clearly straight, and said, `Can you recommend any decent gay bars?' which would be illegal in every possible way. I looked at the playback of the programme afterwards and I've never seen the credits come up (on the screen) so quickly.'