Daniel Radcliffe is speaking out against the anti-gay politics of those vying for the Republican nomination for president.

Radciffe, whose new film The Woman in Black opened strong at the U.S. box office over the weekend, says he is  'disgusted, amazed, stunned’ by the rhetoric of Rick Santorum and of former candidate Michele Bachmann.

'But they disgusted me less than candidates like Rick Perry, who made that ridiculous advert wearing 'the Brokeback jacket’, and I think pretend to be homophobic just to win votes,' the actor says in an interview with the UK's Atittude.

Radcliffe does wish President Barack Obama would publicly back gay marriage. Despite striking down Don't Ask Don't Tell and backing LGBT equality in other ways, Obama is still officially still evolving on the issue and has so far only supported civil unions.

Radcliffe paused and winced at the Obama question then said: 'But can he really? Of course he’s in favor of it, but he has to be careful about saying so. I’d rather have someone like him in the White House than the alternative.’

Radcliffe strongly believes gay people should have equality in law everywhere.

He says: 'The ultimate reason gay marriage should be legalized everywhere is because, as a kid, you look to your mum and dad and they’re married; then you look at the gay couple who’ve been together for the same amount of time, but because they can’t get married their relationship doesn’t seem the same. Yes, gay marriage is about symbolically blessing a relationship, but the larger issue is about transmitting a fundamental message about equality.'