Gay Igloo Recipient (March 2009)

Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright born on July 22, 1973. He is a Canadian Grammy nominated singer songwriter. He has recorded five albums of original musci, several EPs, and numerous tracks included on compilations and film soundtracks.

He is the son of Loudon Wainwright II and Kate McGarrigle, and brother of

Martha Wainwright and half-brother of Lucy Wainwright Roche. Rufus came out while still a teenager in 1988 when he told Rolling Stone Magazine. He became interested in opera in his adolescent years and the genre strongly influences his music. His recording Barcelona features lyrics from the libretto of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Macbeth. During this period he also became fascinated with Edit Piaf, Al Jolson and Judy Garland.

At age 14, Rufus was sexually assaulted in London's Hyde Park after picking up a man at a bar. He remained celibate for seven years after the incident, which he claims postponed him from becoming promiscuous. In an interview years later he described the event as just wanting to go to the park and see a concert but ended up being raped, robbed, and almost strangled to death. Traumatic on all counts. He survived the assault by pretending to be epileptic and faking a seizure.

Rufus spent most of his teenage and young adult years in Montreal, Quebec Canada. He has been a very active and outspoken supporter of the GLBT movement in Canada and the United States of America.