US President Barack Obama issued the following proclamation on June 1, 2009. This month marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots (in New York City) and is widely considered to be the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.
You might know him better as Magneto in X-Men or Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, but Sir Ian McKellen (or Serena, as he once nicknamed himself) also holds a proud legacy as a gay rights campaigner in the UK and abroad. Currently touring with the Royal Shakespeare Company in a stage production of Shakespeare's King Lear and Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in Singapore, Sir Ian stops for a while to speak to Fridae about acting and activism. A Fridae exclusive.