WASHINGTON – Barbara Bush, daughter of former President George W. Bush, appeared in a Human Rights Campaign video released Tuesday to advocate for marriage equality in New York state.
“I’m Barbara Bush and I’m a New Yorker for marriage equality. New York is about fairness and equality and everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love. Join us,” says the 29-year-old Bush in the video.
The HRC released the following statement about Bush’s participation in the pro-same-sex marriage campaign:
“’Americans from all walks of life are increasingly supportive of the basic right to equal marriage,’ said HRC President Joe Solmonese. ‘Barbara Bush’s advocacy shows that equality knows no party label.’
The video comes on the heels of two New York polls showing a majority of New Yorkers support marriage equality. A Siena Research Institute Poll earlier this month found 57 percent of New Yorkers support marriage for same-sex couples and another poll last week by Quinnipiac University had support at 56 percent.
Barbara Bush joins prominent Republicans like her mother Laura Bush as well as Dick Cheney and Ted Olson as supporters of marriage equality. Her position also reflects her generation with 68% of New Yorkers between the ages of 18-34 supporting marriage for same-sex couples.
The New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign is centered on video testimonials from New Yorkers who support the right of same-sex couples to marry. The ads are running online with possible placement elsewhere when the legislative fight for marriage equality heats up in Albany. To date, HRC has released videos from Barbara Bush, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, Fran Drescher, Moby, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Julianne Moore and Kenneth Cole – with more to follow in the coming weeks and months.”
Watch the video here.
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