ELTON JOHN A BIT LIKE THE QUEEN MOTHER

Sir Elton John thinks he and partner David Furnish are the acceptable face of homosexuality.The singer who married long-term boyfriend David Furnish in a civil partnership last year, feels as though the couple are treated like gay royalty. Elton said: 'Dave and I, as a couple, seem to be the acceptable face of gayness, and that's great.' People come to me and I'm a bit like the Queen Mother. I never get those problems. I don't know what it is with me - people treat me very reverently. It was the same when Dave and I had our civil union - I was expecting the odd flour bomb but there wasn't.Despite his revered status in the UK, the 'Rocket Man' singer is unhappy at the amount of gay hatred and homophobia hatred in Eastern Europe and has vowed to do something about it. He said: 'I've got to use that power to try and do what I can to make the situations in Russia and Poland better. I'm off to Poland in two weeks to say something there because the situationis not good. If I'm on the board of Amnesty International I can't just sitback and say nothing. It's not a gay issue, it's a human rights issue.'

ELTON JOHN 'GAY SPOKESPERSON'