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\n\t\u201cWe got married by the cactus outside on December the something or other, about a year or so ago,\u201d Halford, 74 said. \u201cHe\u2019s [Thomas] from Alabama. Extremely conservative. I stopped asking, \u2018Let\u2019s get married.\u2019 \u2018No, I don\u2019t want to get married.\u2019 \u2018Oh, let\u2019s just get married. We\u2019ve been together forever.\u2019 \u2018No, I don\u2019t want to get married.’\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\tBut then, on one of the couple\u2019s \u201cnight walks,\u201d Thomas appeared to have a change of heart and told Halford that they should get married after three decades together, so the rocker went straight home and phoned a pastor. <\/p>\n
\n\tHe described a simple ceremony with just a few guests, saying, \u201cIt was obviously me and him and an officiant, as they call them, who are legalized to marry people,\u201d Halford said. \u201cTwo of my dearest friends, Jim Silvia, who was Priest\u2019s [tour] manager forever, his wife. There were just four of us around the pool, around the cactus, the\u00a0heavy metal\u00a0cactus. And it was over in an instant. But it was just a beautiful, simple ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tShears also asked if Halford thinks attitudes towards sexuality have changed in the metal world, with the singer saying yes, but it depends on where you are. \u201cAmerica is still incredibly homophobic,\u201d said Halford. \u201cI\u2019ve lived here for a long time and I\u2019ve seen a lot happen since the \u201980s. And really it gets me angry and upset, but when I go on stage and perform with Priest, some guys will say, \u2018I love Judas Priest, but I\u2019m not gay.\u2019 You know that thing \u2013 \u2018I\u2019m a huge fan of Priest, but I\u2019m not a gay guy\u2019 \u2013 that still lives with me now to some extent. It might be a fraction.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHalford hailed the great strides the LBGTQ community has made over the past half-century, but said there is much more work still to be done. He said we have a way to go until everyone can pick up on the message to, \u201cLove everybody, not be judgmental, let people live their lives how they see fit for themselves. There should be no rules on how you look and how you speak and how you dress. All that should be an open book, because that\u2019s what love is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tShears also asked Halford to describe coming out on MTV in 1998, which came during an tossed-off comment he made while promoting his supergroup side project 2wo. \u201cAnd I go, \u2018Well, speaking as a gay man, this is,\u2019 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,\u201d Halford recalled. \u201cAnd then I heard somebody\u2019s clipboard drop on the floor, because I had literally formally announced to the world that I\u2019m a gay man. So I did that show. I went back to the hotel, sat in the room, going, \u2018What have I done? What have I done?\u2019 And I was, like, \u2018I don\u2019t care.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tJudas Priest is in the midst of a fall North American tour with Alice Cooper that will hit Holmdel, N.J.\u2019s PNC Bank Arts Center on Friday (Sept. 26).<\/p>\n
\n\tWatch Halford on Queer the Music<\/em> below (wedding talk begins at 23:25 mark).<\/p>\n\n
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