It's kind of astonishing to realize that blatant homophobia is still such a thing in certain parts of the world in this day and age. However, in Russia there was recently an article written in their version of the men's magazine Maxim where they made a list of people whose contributions are so great that they have "earned our respect and the right to remain real men in our eyes". Part of the list included Queen front man Freddie Mercury and Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford.
The magazine also included actors like Sir Ian McKellen and Neil Patrick Harris and started off the article saying, “We, men, do not consider men who love men to be men. This is the rule. But there are exceptions.”
For Halford, they said:
“If you’re cool enough, it doesn’t matter what your orientation is.”
As for Mercury:
“Brought us so much joy, we are ready to forgive him anything.”
Needless to say there has been a great deal of public outrage about the piece. Though they insist it was a joke, it is not surprising that such a piece would be published in Russia given how vehemently against homosexuality they are. U.S. Maxim was quick to act, saying:
“We are deeply disturbed by the article in Maxim Russia and fully condemn it. It is entirely against the views of U.S. Maxim.”
It really shouldn't matter what your orientation is regardless of whether or not you are a popular performer. With as many strides as we have made towards equality worldwide I guess some places *cough* *cough* Russia *cough* still have a ways to go in terms of getting their heads out of their asses in that regard.
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