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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Daniel Boffey Chief reporter

David Furnish on wiping out HIV/Aids, the ‘weaponisation’ of LGBTQ+ rights … and the day Putin called

David Furnish Elton John AIDS HIV Vladimir Putin Ron DeSantis United States Covid-19
Anne Aslett, chief executive of the Elton John Aids Foundation, with David Furnish, John’s husband and chair of the foundation.
Anne Aslett, chief executive of the Elton John Aids Foundation, with David Furnish, John’s husband and chair of the foundation. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

It could be said to be a love that dare not speak its name. Certainly Russia’s president makes little of it when warning of the degrading dangers of western acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights. “I’m told unreliably, or reliably, who knows, that Putin is a fan,” says Elton John’s husband, David Furnish, of the unlikely Rocketman devotee in the Kremlin.

“Every March 25, I get a WhatsApp message from the [Russian] health minister saying: ‘I just want to wish Elton happy birthday and we wish him all the best and love his music so much.’ So, it is this strange paradox.

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