MEXICO CITY - Ricky Martin defended the right of pop stars to come out of the closet, saying he felt solidarity with Christian Chavez of Mexican band RBD, who recently said publicly that he is gay.

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"Life is too short to live closed up, guarding what you say," said Martin -- whose sexual orientation has been the subject of speculation -- in an interview with The Associated Press. Christian "has to be free in many aspects. I wish him much strength."

Martin, who was named person of the year in 2006 by the Latin Recording Academy, has hits including "Livin' la Vida Loca" and "Shake Your Bon-Bon."

He said his nonprofit Ricky Martin Foundation inspires him in his songwriting. One of the foundation's programs, People for Children, works toward the elimination of human trafficking, especially trafficking of children.

"When you start to work with social problems, it gets the attention of the media and people think it's a farce," the 35-year-old singer said. "It's a spiritual search. The philanthropic work helps me write music and the music helps me in the philanthropic work."

Martin said it was great that more celebrities are working with charities.

"If this is a fashion, then I hope a lot more fashions like this come along."

He will tour the U.S. in April and May.

RBD, which spun off Mexico's wildly popular soap opera, "Rebelde," has achieved success throughout Latin America and among Spanish speakers in the United States.

This is so dumb ~ when is Ricky going to come out for realz?

indeed, but it must be a huge conundrum. He's the latin George Michael. I mean how can you come out as gay and still sing Living La Vida Loca with a straight face¿???

I think it could hurt his career, but he has to do it. Othetwise how are we going to advance?

Hmmm I had this convo recently with my husband's cousin and according to him ~ you all have advanced ~ in the 1970's in Queens NY where he grew up ~ they beat his ass to the ground for being gay.

LOL You got that right ~ hmmm we meet on common ground after all HCH LOLZ

lol.

Fucking sad.

I guess Ricky gets the even numbered years and that bitch from the bus wreck gets the odd.

Why would he do that? He's straight.

__________________
Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

I Christian Chavez (and RBD).

lol

Uh, you don't think this still happens now? lol

Anyway, what evidence is there that he's actually gay? The lack of girlfriends. Maybe he doesn't come out because he wouldn't be able to continue the charity work or something. That's being kind to him. I guess his fanbase would desert him

Here you go

pfft.

best photo shop Ive seen in a while I_eat_ether, well done.

Some wiki trivia

**In December 2005, Ricky Martin bluntly told American Blender magazine that he "loved giving the golden shower" to his partners. This statement was met with shocked and dumbfounded reactions from his fans. Some even suggested he should close the charity he founded for children relief. Martin later posted a message on his website stating he regretted his frankness around the issue and wished he had kept quiet.


**He has talked publicly about his fetish for toes....

instead of dissing him, you silly people
should check out his foundation. what is he trying to raise awareness about?
slavery. human trafficking. that's a beautiful, dare i say, a GOLDEN intention...

Ricky Martin Foundation

To further uphold our principle of social justice, in 2004 the Foundation launched People for Children, a global initiative to educate, denunciate, and support the international framework for the elimination of human trafficking, especially minors. This unscrupulous market annually generates $10 billion dollars, and it's only preceded by the trafficking of drugs and arms. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 children are victims of this global nightmare every year.

Christian Chavez, from RBD, has a fanbase mostly composed by children and pre-adolescents. The fact that he announced his homosexuality, so far, hasn't destroyed his public image. Once I heard that he had came out, I said to myself: he's dead; he will probably have to leave the group. But, for my surprise, that didn't happen: most fans, so far, have supported his decision. We latin-americans are usually very sexist and conservative, especially when it comes to accepting homosexuality, so I definitely felt surprised once I realised that most fans were supporting Christian. That said, I don't think Ricky's fanbase would desert him incase he came out.

I don't think Ricky coming out would hurt is career. It probably wouldn't even shock anyone.

I just know I love his songs and I always have. His looks have nothing to do with it.

what an idiot. This is why I'll always love Madonna. She comes out saying her friend Nora finger fucked her as a child and she is unapologetic about it. Good.

What an idiot, seriously. How are we going to advance if people like him don't accept themselves.

Bitch, her name wasn't Nora. It was Moira or Maureen or something.

Although Madonna probably got finger fucked by the entire neighborhood, so there might have been a Nora.

oh yes, it's Moira Mcfarland or something.

Whatever, you got my point.