Jennifer Beals - Beals Hits Out At Gay Marriage Prejudice

THE L WORD star JENNIFER BEALS finds the opposition against gay marriage in America "absolutely absurd" especially in the face of December's (26DEC04) tsunami disaster.

The 41-year-old actress, who plays BETTE PORTER in the lesbian TV drama, is "shocked" by the level of prejudice generated by same-sex weddings.

She says, "I'm always shocked that gay marriage is such a big deal.

"You have to realise how precious human life is, when there are tsunamis and mudslides, when there are armies and terrorists - at any moment, you could be gone, and potentially in the most brutal fashion.

"And then you have to realise that love is truly one of the most extraordinary things you can experience in your life.

"To begrudge someone else their love of another person because of gender seems to be absolutely absurd. It's based in fear, fear of the other, fear of what is not like you.

"But when you are able to see lives on a day-to-day basis, rather than reducing it to politics, then it humanizes a whole community of people that were otherwise invisible."

Yale-educated Beals credits popular culture, such as her TV show, with breaking down homosexual stereotypes as it enables "people see another side of life".