Rupert Everett Under Fire After Openly Questioning Gay Couples' Parenting

Fact: Rupert Everett isn't a father.

The 53-year-old openly gay star of 1997's "My Best Friend's Wedding" tells Great Britain's Sunday Times Magazine that'll remain a fact. To hear his thoughts on the merits - rather, his perceived lack thereof - of having two gays parents,

"She thinks children need a father and a mother and I agree with her. I can't think of anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads," Everett said. he preceded that assertion by explaining that even after 20 years out as a gay man, his mother still holds out hope he'll one day take a wife and sire her some grandkids.

Everett added that she, too, believes that only heterosexual couples should raise children. According to the actor, she's also accepted his sexuality.

"Some people might not agree with that. Fine! That's just my opinion," Everett said, defending his remarks and setting himself up as somewhat of a man apart. "I'm not speaking on behalf of the gay community. In fact, I don't feel like I'm part of any 'community'. The only community I belong to is humanity and we've got too many children on the planet, so it's good not to have more."

In a somewhat cynical response while recapping Everett's comments for Jezebel, writer Madeleine Davies begged to differ, suggesting, "I can think of a ton of worse things - being brought up by parents who don't want you, spending your childhood in and out of foster care, the soft rock revival, iceberg lettuce, splinters. See? And that was just off the top of my head."

It's not as though there's no precedent for gay activist groups firing on their own for not toeing the mainstream gay-rights line. In early 2011, "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon was lambasted for admitting in an interview that her preference for romantic relationships with women was 100-percent her conscious choice after a loving heterosexual marriage and years of satisfying male relationships before that.

"A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it's a choice, then we could opt out," Nixon told The New York Times. "I say it doesn't matter if we flew here or swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not."

Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen fired back, "Cynthia did not put adequate thought into the ramifications of her words, and it is going to be used when some kid comes out and their parents force them into some ex-gay camp while she's off drinking cocktails at fancy parties. When people say it's a choice, they are green-lighting an enormous amount of abuse because if it's a choice, people will try to influence and guide young people to what they perceive as the right choice."