"It’s never crossed my mind that it’d ever be possible for me [to get married]. That’s the scar that I and so many others bear -- we believed ourselves to be second-rate citizens for so long, the idea of being able to say, ’This is my husband, these are my children,’ was not an option. I remember Tom Stoppard saying to me when I came out, ’I feel so sorry for you, because you’ll never have children.’ These days I would say, ’Well, why not, Tom?’ But 20 years ago I accepted his judgment."

Openly gay actor Sir Ian McKellen to Details magazine Oct. 29