Longtime couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra
Sedgwick are taking a stand for gay marriage in a new ad urging New
Yorkers to support its legalization.
“This is a private issue that should
never be determined by the government,” Sedgwick says in the ad.
“Everyone has the right to choose who they love and how to express
that love.”
“We all deserve the right to marry
the person that we love,” Bacon adds as he beams at his wife of 22
years. (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
The ad is part of an ongoing campaign
that features prominent celebrities and politicians. The campaign,
backed by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest gay
advocate, has previously featured singer-songwriter
Moby, actresses Fran Drescher and Julianne
Moore, fashion designer Kenneth Cole, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe,
the widow of tennis great Arthur Ashe, and New
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In
his ad, Moby says, “One of the things that made me most proud
of being a New Yorker for decades is the fact that we embrace all
people and walks of life.”
The campaign hopes to build momentum on
the issue now, ahead of a hoped-for vote next year to legalize gay
marriage in the state after last year's failed bid. Speaking
at a gay fundraiser in October, Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo vowed
he'd legalize gay marriage, if elected.