Despite Friday’s historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favour of same-sex marriage in all 50 states, there is still a “long way to go” on improving gay rights around the world, David Furnish says.
As grand marshal of this year’s Pride Parade in Toronto, the filmmaker and activist celebrated the landmark court decision in his hometown over the weekend.
Furnish, who now lives in England with his superstar husband Elton John and their two young children, said the ruling was the sort of thing he “could never imagine” happening in his lifetime.
Despite the recent milestones in the struggle for equality, it is still illegal to be gay in dozens of countries around the world, he said.
As a result, Furnish said, there is an “alarming growth” of new HIV infections in countries where LGBTQ people are marginalized and criminalized due to their sexuality.
“If you stigmatize someone for being gay, you stigmatize the disease,” he said in a Canada AM interview that aired on Monday.
“It doesn’t just affect gay people,” Furnish added. “It affects everybody, (because) people don’t want to present for HIV tests, they don’t to pick up their medication, they don’t want to start a dialogue with their doctors.
“They’re frightened of being associated with something that they deem being illegal.”
Furnish has come a long way from his youth as a gay man grappling with his identity. When he came out, his mother was frightened “on every possible level” for her son’s future.
He wasn’t able to ease her worries, Furnish said, because he had no role models at the time.
“I wanted a lasting union, I wanted children, I wanted a successful career and there wasn’t anyone I could point to anywhere,” Furnish said. “My mother said, ‘I fear for you, because all the things in life that have brought me so much joy aren’t available to you.’
“And I couldn’t say, ‘Yeah, but look at so-and-so, or look at this person.’
Furnish said growing up, he was terrified that he would bump into his straight friends while out with his gay friends.
“It knocks down your confidence and I have to say, part of it poisons your soul because it doesn’t allow you to walk through life and feel good about yourself and feel proud about yourself,” he said.
Last year, Furnish and John married in London, on the ninth anniversary of the day they entered into a civil partnership. The couple decided to get married when England passed new laws that allowed same-sex marriages in the country.
He said they felt it was “important to acknowledge the change in legislation” because there have been so many people who have fought so long for the right to marry. “People have really carried the torch valiantly and for such a long period of time.”
Today, Furnish and John’s careers are taking more of a backseat, as they raise their children together.
“The kids are amazing, they have just changed our life immeasurably.”
