Rufus Wainwright: Gay Marriage, Obama and 'the End of the American Empire'

"Tell me do you really think you go to hell for having loved?" sang Rufus Wainwright on his cutting 2007 song "Going to a Town," punctuating it with "I'm so tired of America."

Wainwright, now engaged to his boyfriend, wrote it prior to Barack Obama's election, but as we saw in North Carolina this past week, there are still many people -- if not, now, the president -- who feel that gay men and women will be damned for simply wanting to get married or have kids.

"So, how do I feel now? Well, once again we're approaching an election year in the United States, and I'm getting ready to make that next commitment in terms of my relationship, in terms of getting married, and we're at the outset of a child's life," Wainright told Spinner in an interview last month. "I don't know. I'm worried to say that it's positive; I would certainly say that the Republicans at this point are far less frightening than they were back in the Bush era. We don't have any [Dick] Cheneys around, really."

Though to be fair to former vice-president Dick Cheney, he may have been a warmonger but he also came out in favour of same-sex marriage way back in 2009. But while Wainwright acknowledges the current crop of Republicans have moved considerably rightward, he finds them less competent and capable of achieving their goals.

"Also, and this has more to do with my mother's death, I just have a deeper sense of the finality of life and a newfound appreciation for enjoying yourself and trying to look on the positive side of things a little bit when you can, and just a love for these little kind of pockets of joy that we're given every once in a while," says Wainwright. "Let's focus on that, 'cause [the Republicans] are gonna go away, don't worry."

So ignore the sideshow, he said, and realize that America is moving forward despite the conservative movement's best efforts.

"After, the financial crisis and these wars being wrapped up and things like that, we're just exhausted. It's time for us to enjoy ourselves," says Wainwright. "There's a kind of decadence almost in a strange way, but it's not a negative decadence."

So does Wainwright consider his new album Out of the Game his Cabaret?

"Yeah. I don't think it's a bad thing. I don't think that the end of the American empire is necessarily the worst thing that could happen to the American empire. And I'm living in Canada, so that's even better. But I would venture to say that it's sort of a positive decadence that's occurring, maybe it's just the calm before the storm. Things are gonna get really bad at some point, so might as well enjoy this sunny day."

But Wainwright does see some light in the coming darkness, especially with a renewed activism on the part of young people fighting for gay rights and the political protests that emerged with the Occupy movement.

"There's a lot of exciting work being done and old walls are crumbling very fast," he says. "We're in a sort of flux right now, and I think we're about enter into some very exciting times, especially if Obama wins the next election. I really like Obama. I know certain people don't, but I really like him and I think that he's actually capable of pulling a lot off in the second term, except for the whole financial bullshit.

Though we spoke before Obama came out in support of same-sex marriage this week, Wainwright said the president wasn't getting enough credit for what he had already accomplished.

"And boy, are they gonna need to give him some credit after what these Republicans have been putting forth."

Watch Rufus Wainwright Perform the Leonard Cohen Classic "Hallelujah"

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