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Stephen Fry, speaking from California, said “If people want to reserve marriage for a man-woman thing then fine, call it something else."

He continued: "A bonding, a uniting, a legal yoking - that's fine. Yoking is a lovely word. Yoked together…"

Well Mr. Fry you may be happy with being yoked, but we deserve the right to have what everyone else can have. Not because we want something different or special, or because we want to shake things up or start rewriting dictionaries, but because it is a civil right.

If we pay the same taxes, we deserve the same rights.

Mr. Fry, its not that you’re saying separate but equal is fine, you are saying separate and unequal is ok with you. Perhaps you don’t need the financial benefits that come with being able to marry your partner, but don’t then deny that to the rest of us.

It’s incredibly depressing to see what should be role models for young LGBT people, people like yourself Mr. Fry, who have immeasurable talent and wit and sophistication, carelessly dismissing something that so many are working so hard for. It really doesn’t help.

It further damages young LGBT people, people who get tormented at school for their sexuality by bullies who think homophobic language and taunting is acceptable because they hear Chris Moyle doing it on Radio 1, but to then see you on Chris Moyles’ Quiz Night! It makes young LGBT people who get called “gay” think that they are just making a fuss out of nothing because when they see you and other celebrities go on his show, it puts out the message that these taunts are nothing to complain about.

The fact that you and your partner can walk down the street together without the threat of a lynching, that you can host TV shows and that you and your partner can see each other in hospital if one of you should take ill, is the product of many working long and hard, often at huge personal cost. Its because of those who have fought for civil rights and against homophobia for decades.

With so few out gay and lesbians in the media, and even fewer with anything matching your talent, Mr. Fry, you are looked to as a role model, whether you want to be or not. But you are not helping by dismissing the fight for gay and lesbian civil rights and dallying around with homophobic bullies.