Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has recorded a
video urging New Yorkers to support gay marriage.
“I grew up in the state of Virginia
at a time when we had lost all the Jim Crow laws that prohibited
black people from marrying white people and a lot of people said if
we changed those laws it would be immoral,” Kennedy says in the
45-second video.
“Well, my father was very proud that
he was part of the battle to establish this country to true
constitutional democracy for the first time in its history,” he
adds, referring to his father Robert F. Kennedy, brother of President
John F. Kennedy.
“This is the last vestige of
institutionalized bigotry that's left in this country and we need to
get rid of it,” the 57-year-old lawyer adds. (The video is
embedded in the right panel of this page.)
Kennedy's ad, released Friday, is part
of an ongoing campaign that features prominent celebrities and
politicians, including Hollywood
couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, New
York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg and singer-songwriter
Moby. The campaign, backed by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC),
the nation's largest gay rights advocate, hopes to build momentum on
the issue now, ahead of a hoped-for second attempt to legalize the
institution later this year.
New
York State Senator Thomas Duane has pledged to introduce a gay
marriage bill this session.
A
Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday showed a majority (56%)
of New Yorkers support legalizing the institution.