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Hugh Hefner was a gay rights pioneer

Thu 3 Sep 2009 In: International News View at Wayback

A new film about Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's life claims the blonde-loving bachelor was an early advocate for gay equality. Gay's OK with playboy: Hugh Hefner Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel uncovered a short sci-fi story printed in the early days of Playboy magazine, in which a straight man is persecuted in a world where homosexuality is the norm. The 1955 story attracted several angry letters in the next issue of Playboy, which Hefner batted away with his reply: "If it was wrong to persecute heterosexuals in a homosexual society, then the reverse was wrong too." A recent acclaimed biography even claims that Hefner had a homosexual experience as part of his sexual exploration. The 83-year-old recently told The Daily Beast website that gay marriage isn't hurting anyone. "The idea that the concept of marriage will be sullied by same-sex marriage is ridiculous. Heterosexuals haven't been doing that well at it on their own."    

Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff

First published: Thursday, 3rd September 2009 - 9:30am

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