Barry Manilow is worried about the state of gay rights in the world
The singer came out last year despite marrying his partner back in 2014
By Steve Brown
Barry Manilow is worried about the state of gay rights in the world.
The ‘Copacabana’ hitmaker publicly came out last year – despite marrying his long-term partner Garry Kief back in 2014 – and although many fans were shocked when he revealed his sexuality, Manilow feels everyone knew already.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Manilow said: “Look, everyone knew I was gay. Garry and I have been together for 40 years, which is a pretty good run.
“I never talked about it because I like my privacy, not because I didn’t want people to know.
“I’m pretty sure my fans did. But, listen, I have my privacy and you can’t come in unless I invite you. People don’t even know the names of my dogs.
“When the National Enquirer announced that Garry and I had got married, I said, ‘Oh, fuck!’ but you know we are both very proud.
“So we gave an interview to People magazine and I felt that if my fans loved me the way I thought they did, then they would be happy. And that is exactly what happened.”
Although he waited until last year to publicly come out, Manilow admitted he would love to help somebody come out and said being gay still isn’t as “acceptable” as it should be.
“There are a lot of people going through hell because they know they are gay and their family won’t accept it,” he added.
“It’s awful and I do hope that I could help somebody [by coming out]. It would be wonderful if I could.
“Being gay is not as acceptable as we like to think. We have a vice-President who would like to stop gay marriage and would like to think we weren’t even allowed to be around.
“It is very ugly being in the world right now.”