Gay rights are going backwards in the US, says Elton John

Elton John performing in Liverpool in March. The singer said he did not like the ‘growing swell of anger and homophobia that’s around America’. Photograph: Cameron Smith/Getty Images

Gay rights are going backwards in the US, where “disgraceful” laws are discriminating against LGBTQ+ people, Elton John has said.

“It’s all going pear-shaped in America,” the singer told the Radio Times. “There’s violence, [discriminatory] laws enacted in Florida, which are disgraceful. There’s a law now that, if you visit a doctor in Florida, they can refuse to treat you if you’re gay, which I find just unbelievable. We seem to be going backwards. And that spreads. It’s like a virus that the LGBTQ+ movement is suffering.”