Miss New York Claire Buffie is the
latest celebrity to join the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) New
Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign.
“I believe that everyone, including
my sister Sarah, deserves the right to marry the one they love,”
Buffie says in her 30-second video ad released Friday. “That's why
I'm a New Yorker for marriage equality.”
“I competed in Miss America 2010 on
an LGBT rights platform because this is a fundamental fight for
fairness,” she adds. (The video is embedded in the right panel of
this page.)
The 24-year-old beauty queen is the
first to use the Miss America platform to champion gay rights. She's
also an executive board member of the gay rights group Parents,
Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
Buffie is among the growing number of
celebrities and prominent politicians to record a video for the
campaign that began last year.
Five gay rights groups – including
HRC – last month announced the formation of New
Yorkers United for Marriage to begin a new push for the
legalization of gay marriage in New York. The campaign is being
coordinated out of Governor Andrew Cuomo's office.
Former
President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea Clinton have also
thrown their support behind New York's latest effort to legalize gay
marriage.
A
Gallup poll released on Friday found 53% of Americans support
marriage equality.