Exclusive Interview: Cher Last Night at Marquee in NYC

As you know, Cher will be performing at the Dance on the Pier party at NYC Pride this weekend, but to get things started, the iconic singer appeared at Marquee's Thursday Q party last night to announce her dance-club-ready new single, "Woman's World" (watch the lyric video here). Writer Evan Mulvihill was lucky enough to be at Marquee last night, and wily enough to get five minutes backstage with living legend.

In addition to talking about DOMA and what kind of Supreme Court Justice she would make -- a fabulous one -- Cher chatted about Amanda Bynes, Bill Clinton and whether the word "tranny" is offensive.

OUT: DOMA was struck down a few days ago. What was your reaction?

CHER: We were screaming!

Who's we?

My friends in my house, Chaz, you know...

You were with Chaz when the news broke?

Well, no, Chaz was at her house -- at his house, sorry. But, I had a lot of gay friends that were texting me and tweeting me and calling. It's something that, really, I don't really understand how we had it in the first place. Like, how did people get away with that kind of shit?

And it was passed under Bill Clinton's presidency.

Yeah, I know. But I mean, he's a cool guy, but he made a mistake. It wasn't the time because things only move when there are enough people that are pissed off and you know it when the numbers start to go in your favor. And younger people don't even understand why we've even had any of these laws. I mean, look at what's going on in Brazil right now. It's crazy.

It's Gay Pride weekend, and you're selling out the Pier Dance. Is there a charity that you want the money to go to?

Well, it's not...don't they do special things with it? Right? [Looks to her publicist Liz Rosenberg for help.] I think the money goes to the gay community.

I just wasn't sure if any specific charities were named.

[Publicist] Liz Rosenberg: Well, Pride's a charity unto itself. And they distribute the money to lots of different organizations.

The Advocate wrote a post saying that you should be on the Supreme Court.

I would be so great.

Would you fit in?

I don't know, fit into what?

Sometimes judges wear wigs. In England they do.

No, no, no. I would be so cool as a judge.

What would your verdict be on DOMA?

Well, I would do what they did, which was right.

Do you think they should've done something more sweeping and said, let's make gay marriage legal all over. All 50 states.

Yeah! Absolutely! Absolutely! That's where I would be great.

Have you seen Amanda Bynes and her wigs at all?

Someone was telling me about it -- somebody just mentioned it to me.

She's been acting bizarrely. And now she's wearing wigs everywhere, but they're really ratty. Does she need to up her wig game?

You know what, when people are going through something, when people are going through changes, they've just got to get through them and people have to kind of back off and let them. You act out when something hurts you or something's not working for you. It's like Britney Spears, I mean that child was acting out like crazy, and then she got through it, and now everything's cool. It's a snapshot in time. It's not time.

Hopefully she'll get better. But she seems to be courting the media at the same time, with her tweeting vicious things at people.

It doesn't necessarily mean that she's in control or she's happy or whatever. When something is going wrong with you, if something's not right, sometimes you make choices that are choices that you might not make at another time in your life. Because Britney was living in Malibu, and she was making choices that were the choices that she was making then that she probably wouldn't make again.

You have to make them once, right? Let's talk about transgender rights. What's next for Chaz and the whole trans community?

I do not know why transgendered people should be treated any differently than anyone else. I really, I can't think of one reason, there's not one reason they should be treated any differently than you and me and anybody else.

Do you think the word tranny is offensive?

Depends on who's saying it.

Gay men say it a lot. Should they be more inclusive?

You know, people with senses of humor--if it bothers someone, then you don't say it. But I have friends who call themselves that, and so, it depends on the person. It depends on how the person feels about who they are, and if that appeals to them, then that's fine. If it doesn't, then it's respectful to treat the person they wanted to be treated.

Now, Watch Cher's single for "Woman's World" here