Former president Bill Clinton and his
daughter Chelsea are urging New York lawmakers to approve a gay
marriage bill.
On Thursday, Chelsea volunteered at a
Manhattan phone bank urging voters to call their senator on the
issue.
The former president offered his
endorsement in a statement released Thursday by the gay rights group
the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Gay marriage, he said, would
strengthen the nation.
“In the 21st century, I
believe New York's welcome must include marriage equality,” he
wrote.
“It's fantastic to have their support
and they help amplify what we already know, which is that we have a
super-majority of New Yorkers – 58 percent of New Yorkers support
marriage equality in this state,” Brian Ellner of the HRC told NY1.
In 2009, Bill Clinton announced his
support for gay marriage, saying he regretted signing into law the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the law that bans federal agencies
from recognizing the marriages of gay couples.
At a Tuesday event, Chelsea
Clinton announced her support for the institution.
However, earlier this year, Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton told
gay glossy The
Advocate that
she had not changed her position on marriage equality.