News for Jul. 21, 2007

Ian McKellen wades into Singapore gay rights debate

7/21/07, 11:52 am EST - Xoanon

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - As Gandalf and Magneto, he's faced off fire-breathing monsters and superheroes, but actor Ian McKellen says he picks his battles when it comes to celebrity causes. The Oscar-nominated thespian stepped into a brewing debate in Singapore about decriminalising homosexual acts just hours after arriving in the city state this week as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's touring production of William Shakespeare's "King Lear" and Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull". McKellen, 68, was quoted in Singapore's pro-government media urging the state to repeal its laws that make sexual acts between men a crime. [More]