Actor John Slattery has recorded a video urging New Yorkers to support the legalization of gay marriage.

“I'm a New Yorker who supports marriage equality because every family needs the same protections,” Slattery says in the 31-second video.

“Unfortunately, equal rights don't happen on their own,” he adds. “We have to fight for them.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)

The 48-year-old actor is best known for playing Roger Sterling on the AMC drama Mad Men.

Slattery's 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.