George Clooney is the first actor to join the Los Angeles reading of the play 8, The Los Angeles Times reported.

8, which was written by Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, is based on the trial over the constitutionality of California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8.

The 13-day trial held last year in San Francisco resulted in federal Judge Vaughn Walker, now retired, declaring the ban unconstitutional.  Proponents of Proposition 8 appealed the ruling, and gay and lesbian couples in California remain barred from marrying.

The Broadway premiere of the event raised over $1 million for the fight to win marriage equality.

Clooney, 50, is traveling in Australia and unavailable for comment, but in a statement released by the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group formed specifically to challenge the 2008 voter-approved amendment, Clooney is quoted as saying: “It is astonishing that gay and lesbian Americans are still treated as second-class citizens. I am confident that, very soon, the laws of this nation will reflect the basic truth that gay and lesbian people – like all human beings – are born equal in dignity and rights.”

The Los Angeles premiere of the play will take place at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on March 3. Click here to purchase tickets.