Broadway star Daphne Rubin-Vega has
joined a campaign urging New Yorkers to support the legalization of
gay marriage.
The 41-year-old actress best known for
her Tony Award-nominated portrayal of Mimi Marquez, a
heroin-addicted, HIV+ exotic dancer, in the musical Rent has
recorded videos for the campaign in both English and Spanish.
“There is nothing more important to
me than the love and commitment that a family brings. That's why I
support equal marriage rights for all,” the Panamanian-born beauty
says. (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
an ad featuring longtime Hollywood couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra
Sedgwick, Bacon says, “We all deserve the right to marry the
person we love,” as he beams at his wife of 22 years.
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.