Singer Melissa Etheridge on Tuesday
released the official video for the single Uprising of Love.
The track was used to help launch the
Uprising of Love campaign, which supports the Russia Freedom Fund, a
vehicle for making financial contributions in support of Russia's
LGBT rights movement and efforts to combat anti-gay discrimination in
the former Soviet Republic.
“At this unique moment in history,
when we are seeing such rapid progress in the fight for equality in
the West, we cannot be blinded to appalling crimes against humanity
elsewhere,” a
statement on the campaign's website says. “Today in Russia,
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people are
facing harassment, arrest and violence under a set of horrific new
laws. For their sake, we must come together and start an uprising of
love.”
The music video, produced and directed
by creative agency Wondros, intertwines footage of peaceful Russian
LGBT rallies and protests with shots of couples – gay and straight
– in love. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
Etheridge co-founded the Uprising of
Love campaign with Milk
scribe Dustin Lance Black and producer Bruce Cohen.
Celebrities who have pledged their
support include Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, James Franco, Sara Gilbert,
Sean Hayes, Chris Colfer, George Takei and Sigourney Weaver, to name
a few.