Bette Midler Raises Eyebrows with Gay Marriage Comment

She started her career singing in gay bathhouses and became a cultural icon in the gay community, but now singer-movie star Bette Midler says she isn't so sure about the idea of gay marriage.

And in voicing her doubts last week, the 'Divine Miss M' trotted out some rather ugly stereotyping to make her point.

In little-noticed comments to CNN's Larry King, Midler explained, "It's a real dilemma, but I think it's a dilemma to a lot of people."

Lesbian women, said Midler, "they can look at each other from across a crowded room, and suddenly, they're mates for life. You know, they'll go out for a Coke, and they'll just be, you know, move in, and that'll be the end of it."

But for gay men, the songstress said, things are different.

"Many of the homosexual men that I know ... you know, they like to move around. They like to have – you know, they're – that's part of it. That's part of the fun of being a gay man.

"So if they're married," Midler wondered aloud, "does that mean they're not going to cheat, they're only going to be with one?"

"It's very interesting," she added. "I'm really wondering how – what that commitment is going to be about."

Noting the politically incorrect tone of Midler's outburst, WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg told his audience on Sunday, "To me, that is outrageous stereotyping of gay men."

The conservative talker added: "Someone with such a huge gay following, I don't know why she would say something like that. Or how she gets away with saying something like that."

"If a conservative entertainer said that, let alone a talk show host or a politician, there would be bloody heck to pay for it," he predicted.

Get Steve Malzberg's exclusive NewsMax.com column e-mailed directly to you at www.newsmax.com/malzberg.

Don't miss Steve as he fills in Monday night for "Scarborough Country" host Joe Scarborough on MSNBC, 10 p.m. ET.

Editor's note:
James Hirsen’s "Tales from the Left Coast" - Find out the real story behind Mel Gibson’s "The Passion," and more!

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