Elton John has been vocal in encouraging people to stand up for gay rights in a new article in the New Statesman magazine, calling on people to take on homophobes "whether the bigot is in our local pub or a thousand miles away. We should all stand up and speak out for basic human rights ".
In the column he also addressed his 2005 civil union with partner David Furnish, saying: "I wanted everyone to know, I wanted to shout about it. In some countries, my voice would have been drowned out. Maybe even stamped out. Men and women are persecuted and attacked every day all over the world, just because of who they love and who they make love to".
He went on to praise El Salvadorian gay rights activist William Hernandez, who has suffered raids and been threatened at gunpoint in the course of his campaigning works. "People like William are a lot braver than me," the singer wrote. "My voice has served me pretty well over the years; I hope maybe it can do him some good too. But we need more voices".