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Stephen Fry: Gay, Jewish, and Proud

The renowned British actor-comedian-author Stephen Fry has spoken to the UK’s Jewish News of his pride in his gay, Jewish, secular identity.

“I’m as proud of being Jewish as I am as proud of being gay,” he told the newspaper’s new LGBT section on Monday. “And just as I don’t go to shul, I don’t go to gay clubs. The identity can never be taken away from me… for Jews not to celebrate gays within their own community would be a schande, it seems to me, a shame and a disgrace.”

Fry, who rose to fame as one half of the sketch comedy duo Fry and Laurie, was born to a Jewish mother, but raised in a secular environment. For many years he has been one of Britain’s most popular (and controversial) multi-hyphenate intellectuals, and the host of the BBC comedy quiz show QI. In 2006, he appeared in an episode of the genealogy documentary series “Who Do You Think You Are?” in which he traced his the fate of his great-grandparents and extended family from Hungary to Auschwitz. His maternal grandparents emigrated to Britain in 1927, sparing one branch of the family.

When asked by a Twitter follower why he would want to belong to a religion which disapproves of homosexuality, Fry responded thusly:

And there you have it: Stephen Fry, proud gay Jew.

Related: In the Story of Queen Esther, Echoes of My Own Coming Out

Image: s_bukley / Shutterstock

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