Sir Elton John thinks there is still too much "shame" about the LGBTQ issue.

The 70-year-old singer, who together with his husband David Furnish has sons Zachary (6) and Elijah (4), finds that LGBTQ people are far too often "tolerated" instead of "accepted". He is particularly concerned about the statistics on self-harm and suicide of transgender and non-heterosexual young people. In an interview with 'Grazia', the artist describes: "Tragically, it is still a sense of shame. Too often LGBT people are tolerated rather than accepted, let alone welcomed." He wants people to wake up and realize how bad the situation is still: "When almost half of all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual schoolchildren are bullied at school and, as a result, more than 60% of themselves hurting yourself and 40% of trans people trying to commit suicide is a serious warning that gay stigma and shame are still toxic. "

Nevertheless, the 'Rocket Man' interpreter admits that society has changed enormously in the past 50 years and says: "Back in time, being gay was considered a source of shame [...] was a gay man a 'bachelor'. Lesbians were 'tomboys'. Today gay couples are married [and have children and are] by most people and even championed by a few. There are openly [gay and lesbian] people of all professions. " He describes the following as a good development: "Instead of being ashamed in public [for being gay or lesbian], you would now be ashamed to be homophobic in public." There was also tremendous progress in the music industry.