Comedian Joan Rivers has recorded a
video urging New Yorkers to support the legalization of gay marriage.
“I'm Joan Rivers and I'm a native New
Yorker and I totally support marriage equality,” Rivers says in the
video.
“What is it?” she then asks.
“Only kidding,” she adds, and then,
with an exaggerated look of indifference, she says, “Do what you
want, I got my own problems.” (The video is embedded in the right
panel of this page.)
The 77-year-old entertainer, a strong
ally for gay rights, raised
eyebrows last year when she said gay actors who play romantic leads
should not reveal their sexuality.
Rivers' 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.
The campaign created a stir when it
recruited Barbara Bush, the daughter of former president George W.
Bush, to record a video.
Despite a Republican majority in the
New York Senate, Senator
Thomas Duane has promised he'll introduce a gay marriage bill this
session.