Elton John has changed his tune on gay marriage.
The legendary musician and gay icon performed at a $3 million fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights in support of marriage rights, and issued some harsh words for opponents of equality.
"It seems so ridiculous I could be with my partner for 17 years and we have a son, and my partner and I can't get married," he told the crowd (via AP), before issuing a "f*ck you,' to those responsible for keeping him from marriage.
It was a different sentiment than what he said two years ago, when Proposition 8 was passed in California.
"We have a civil partnership," he said, talking about he and longtime partner, David Furnish. "What is wrong with Proposition 8 is that they went for marriage. Marriage is going to put a lot of people off, the word marriage," he said to USA Today at a gala for his Elton John AIDS Foundation in 2008. "I don't want to be married. I'm very happy with a civil partnership. If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership. The word 'marriage,' I think, puts a lot of people off."
To him, marriage and civil partnerships were all the same.
"You get the same equal rights that we do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships."
Perhaps having son Zachary, via surrogate, with Furnish in December, has opened his eyes a bit.
"As a gay man. I think I have it all," John said on Wednesday. "I have a wonderful career, a wonderful life. I have my health, I have a partner of 17 years and I have a son. And you know what, I don't have everything, because I don't have the respect of people like the church, and people like politicians who tell me that I am not worthy or that I am 'less than' because I am gay."
John was married to a woman, friend and engineer Renate Blauel in 1984 -- the marriage lasted three years before he fully recognized his sexuality.
Interestingly, John recently performed at the wedding of Rush Limbaugh, a noted gay marriage opponent. He made a handsome fee for the effort: $1 million.
Talking about the performance, John said:
"When [Limbaugh] asked me to play at his wedding, my agent said, 'Well, of course you won't be doing it,'" John told the Telegraph of London. "But I said, 'Well, let me think about that first.' ... Limbaugh's not anti-civil partnerships, so maybe I can have a dialogue about that. I've put my foot in the water and so has he. I got on with him very well, got on very well with his wife."
For more on his comments at the fundraiser, click over to the AP story.
For more on the event, click over to a Huffington Post blog by David Wild.