Miley Cyrus Supporting Same Sex Marriage

The equal sign permanently inked on Miley Cyrus‘ ring finger stirred up quite the controversy when she first posted a picture of it on Twitter in August 2011. The 19-year-old had to ward off angry fans who called her out on “not being Christian” because she supports gay rights. Now the pop star speaks out in Glamour through an essay she wrote about the tattoo — and we couldn’t be more proud of her!

“Imagine finding someone you love more than anything in the world, who you would risk your life for but couldn’t marry. And you couldn’t have that special day the way your friends do—you know, wear the ring on your finger and have it mean the same thing as everybody else. Just put yourself in that person’s shoes. It makes me feel sick to my stomach,” she says in Glamour.

“When I shared a picture of my tattoo on my Twitter page and said, “All LOVE is equal,” a lot of people mocked me—they said, ‘What happened to you? You used to be a Christian girl!’ And I said, ‘Well, if you were a true Christian, you would have your facts straight. Christianity is about love.’ The debate resulted in a lot of threats and hate mail to people who agreed and disagreed with me. At one point I had to say, ‘Dude, everyone lay off.’ Can’t people have friendly debates about sensitive topics without it turning into unnecessary threats?”

Miley goes on the explain that if her own dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, who she describes as a “man’s man” can accept same-sex marriage — so can the rest of America.

It’s amazing how fearless and confident Miley is! We totally respect her for sharing her opinion — she really is a great role model.