Patrick Stewart Clarifies Remarks On Northern Ireland's Anti-Gay Bakery

"As part of my advocacy for Amnesty International, I gave an interview on a number of subjects related to human rights, civil rights and freedom of speech. During the interview, I was asked about the Irish bakers who refused to put a message on a cake which supported marriage equality, because of their beliefs. In my view, this particular matter was not about discrimination, but rather personal freedoms and what constitutes them, including the freedom to object. Both equality and freedom of speech are fundamental rights— and this case underscores how we need to ensure one isn’t compromised in the pursuit of the other. I know many disagree with my sentiments, including the courts. I respect and understand their position, especially in this important climate where the tides of prejudices and inequality are (thankfully) turning. What I cannot respect is that some have conflated my position on this single matter to assume I’m anti-equality or that I share the personal beliefs of the bakers. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could be further from the truth. I have long championed the rights of the LGBT community, because equality should not only be, as the people of Ireland powerfully showed the world, universally embraced, but treasured." - Patrick Stewart, posting on his Facebook page.

Patrick Stewart Backs Anti-Gay Bakery In Northern Ireland: I Feel Bad For Them

Via the Independent:

Patrick Stewart has weighed into the 'gay cake' debate, saying that he supports the right of the Christian bakers to refuse to ice messages they find offensive. Ashers Bakery lost a court case after refusing to make a cake with the words "support gay marriage" above a picture of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. Talking on Newsnight, the actor said: "Finally, I found myself on the side of the bakers." Stewart argued that nobody should be forced to write specific text that they disagreed with. "It was not because it was a gay couple that they objected, it was not because they were celebrating some sort of marriage or an agreement between them," said Stewart. "It was the actual words on the cake they objected to. Because they found the words offensive." He continued: "I would support their rights to say no, this is personally offensive to my beliefs, I will not do it."

Photo Of The Day

Many more super fun NYC touristy shots are here. (Via JMG reader Scott)

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Tweets Of The Day

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Shut up, Wesley.

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The IPO was priced at $26 and at this writing the stock has climbed to $45.

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Trailer recap:

The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. The beloved characters from the original "X-Men" film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from "X-Men: First Class," in an epic battle that must change the past -- to save our future.

4M views in one day.

Tweet Of The Day - Patrick Stewart

For those unaware, those statues are part of George Segal's Gay Liberation monument in Christopher Park, which is in Sheridan Square in the West Village. Stewart had a scene with the statues in the 1995 movie, Jeffrey.

(Via Towleroad)

From Queer Nation

Source.

Magneto Marries Professor X

Last week Ian McKellen officiated at the wedding of Patrick Stewart to Sunny Ozell in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

X-Men Stars Are Coming To Broadway

Via the NYT's Arts Beat:

The theater and film stars Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, known for their chemistry in the “X-Men” films as the friends-turned-foes Magneto and Professor Xavier, will return to Broadway together in the fall for an unusual two-play repertory of Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land” and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” the producers said on Thursday. Directed by a fellow Englishman, Sean Mathias, the two plays – both bleakly funny existential classics by Nobel Prize-wining writers — will run in rotation, sometimes on adjacent nights and possibly on the same days as matinee and evening performances.