Clint Eastwood supports gay marriage....sort of (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – He won't be riding the main float during Pride, but Clint Eastwood doesn't care if same-sex couples get married.

In the October issue of GQ Magazine, the steely gazed slab of machismo says he doesn't think gay marriage should be such a controversial issue.

"These people who are making a big deal about gay marriage?" Eastwood tells the magazine. "I don't give a fuck about who wants to get married to anybody else! Why not?! We're making a big deal out of things we shouldn't be making a deal out of ... Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want."

The Oscar-winning director is promoting "J. Edgar," his biopic about J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial longtime FBI chief, who many suspected to be closeted.

Leonardo DiCaprio, who stars as the bureau chief, also thinks that the gay marriage debate has been overblown.

"That's the most infuriating thing -- watching people focus on these things," DiCaprio told GQ. "Meanwhile, there's the onset of global warming and these incredibly scary and menacing things with the future of our economy."

Though DiCaprio is a prominent supporter of liberal causes and candidates, Eastwood is known as one of Hollywood's few Republicans. However, he maintains that his attitude is in keeping with his political beliefs.

"I was an Eisenhower Republican when I started out at 21, because he promised to get us out of the Korean War," Eastwood tells the magazine. "And over the years, I realized there was a Republican philosophy that I liked. And then they lost it. And libertarians had more of it. Because what I really believe is, let's spend a little more time leaving everybody alone."

"J. Edgar" hits theaters on November 9. It's written by Dustin Lance Black ("Milk"), an openly gay screenwriter who has been active in the marriage equality movement.

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Vanessa Redgrave supports people facing eviction (AP)

LONDON – Actress Vanessa Redgrave said Tuesday a local authority's attempts to evict a group of Irish Travellers from a site where they have lived for years is a breach of their human rights.

The residents of Dale Farm, east of London, were told to leave voluntarily by Wednesday. They are refusing to move and local authorities may begin to forcibly evict them in the coming weeks.

Irish Travellers are similar but ethnically distinct from Gypsies or Roma. They have a nomadic heritage but now often settle in one place for several years. Some of the Travellers had lived legally at the site for decades, but local authorities said new arrivals who came in 2001 did not have the right permits to live there.

Tony Ball, leader of Basildon Council, said in a statement that the council has tried to avoid forcibly evicting the residents, but feels it now has no choice. He said the council does not object to their lifestyle, but says they have not complied with planning regulations at the site 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of London.

After lengthy legal battles, a British court said last month that around 240 people living on the site illegally had to leave within 28 days.

Redgrave, who has campaigned on behalf of Gypsies and Travellers around the world, visited the site Tuesday and said "lives will be ruined" if the move goes ahead.

"I am certain that the eviction of the Dale Farm Traveller families is illegal under international, mandatory, human rights conventions," she said. "Evicting these families would be totally unreasonable and irresponsible. The council has said there are no alternatives but there are alternatives," she added.

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