Rupert Everett: Nothing Worse Than Gay Parents

Rupert Everett

Gay actor Rupert Everett is drawing criticism for comments he made in an interview published Sunday, saying, “I can’t think of anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads.”

In the interview, for the magazine section of London’s Sunday Times, Everett says he agrees with his mother, Sara, that children “need a father and a mother.” He says his mother has met his boyfriend but “still wishes I had a wife and kids.”

“I’m not speaking on behalf of the gay community,” he added. “In fact, I don’t feel like I’m part of any ‘community.’ The only community I belong to is humanity and we’ve got too many children on the planet, so it’s good not to have more.”

LGBT rights activists objected to his comments. “Rupert should get out a little bit more to see the facts for himself, Ben Summerskill, chief executive of U.K. gay group Stonewall, told another British newspaper, London’s Telegraph. “There is absolutely no evidence that the kids of gay parents suffer in the way they are being brought up or in how they develop.”

The Sunday Times article is behind a paywall, but the Telegraph’s coverage is available here.