Rupert Everett attempts to downplay gay parenting row

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Rupert Everett appears to be trying to limit the damage from his controversial remarks about gay parents.

Last weekend, the Sunday Times published an interview with the 53-year-old star, in which he said that he couldn’t think of “anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads”.

He added: “Some people might not agree with that. Fine! That’s just my opinion”.

On Wednesday, during an interview on ITV1’s This Morning, the gay actor said: “I’m not against anybody doing anything”.

“Listen, the good news on this is I’m not applying for any sort of public office,” Everett said.

“I don’t want to be an MP, I don’t want to be in the council, I’m just an individual with my own life and the things that I want to do myself.”

He continued: “I’m not against anybody doing anything. I think the reason that’s great about living in England, is we can do more or less what we want.

“Science moves on, there are all sorts of new things that we are able to do – we’d be fools not to do it.

“I’m not one of those people who wants to say, ‘Oh no, you can’t do that, we’ve got to pull the clocks back’.

Everett added: “Just I, personally, feel like that. But it doesn’t mean to say… I have lots of gay friends with children, I have lots of gay friends who have got married, I’ve been to lots of gay weddings, but I’m not big into marriage straight or gay to be honest.

Gay rights groups in the UK and the US have criticised Everett’s original parenting remarks.

Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of Stonewall, Britain’s largest gay rights charity, said: “Rupert should get out a little bit more to see the facts for himself.”

“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.”

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