Miley Cyrus Explains Gay Marriage-Supporting Tattoo

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Miley Cyrus has had to defend her share of photographs over the years.

But she honestly didn't expect the backlash that occurred last summer when she tweeted a picture of an equals sign newly tattooed on her finger, along with the post, "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 teen star wrote in an article for Glamour.com.

So, what brought her to address the controversy again now?

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Well, probably because it's a memory that she can't shake—and Cyrus believes that there's a lesson in it for all.

"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,'" she wrote. "Can't people have friendly debates about sensitive topics without it turning into unnecessary threats?"

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Cyrus says that won't be shopping at Urban Outfitters anymore after learning that the company donated to a presidential candidate who didn't support same-sex marriage.

Sure enough, after Urban Outfitters kicked in more than $13,000 last year to support right-wing Sen. Rick Santorum's presidential aspirations, Cyrus tweeted, "Not only do they steal from artists but every time you give them money you help finance a campaign against gay equality." (In an unrelated matter, the retailer was accused of ripping off an independent artist's necklace designs.)

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"I believe every American should be allowed the same rights and civil liberties," she writes on Glamour.com. "Without legalized same-sex marriage, most of the time you cannot share the same health benefits, you are not considered next of kin and you are not granted the same securities as a heterosexual couple. How is this different than having someone sit in the back of the bus because of their skin color?"

And how does the rest of the Cyrus clan feel about the issue that Miley holds so close to her heart?

"My dad, who is a real man's man, lives on the farm and is as Southern and straight as they come. He loves my gay friends and even supports same-sex marriage," she writes. "If my father can do it, anyone can."

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