Last year, the New York marriage equality bill failed in the state senate, even though polls indicate that a slight majority of New Yorkers — including Governor David Patterson — favor legalizing gay marriage.
That led supporters of the bill to decide on a new strategy — to take the issue of marriage equality directly to New York voters and rally ordinary citizens to actively support it.
This week, the HRC launched a new campaign, New Yorkers for Marriage Equality, to raise the public profile of marriage equality in the state. The campaign starts with a series of commercials by well-known New Yorkers, expressing personal support for gay marriage. The first two ads, released this week, feature Julianne Moore and Kenneth Cole. Here’s Moore’s.
More commercials will follow, timed to lead up to the fall elections and continue as the legislative fight for marriage heats up again in the legislature. Andrew Cuomo, the current front-runner in the governor’s race openly supports same-sex marriage.
Future ads feature Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Fran Drescher, Whoopi Goldberg and Mark Ruffalo, among others. (If they get Annette Bening, they can do a reprise of The Kids Are All Right without all that silly straight sex.)
If you’d like to participate in New Yorkers for Marriage Equality, start by signing the petition at the campaign website.
Do you think celebrity ads in support of gay marriage help humanize the issue? Do you sense progress in your part of the world?
