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Barbara Bush Supports Gay Marriage in Video

By DNAinfo Staff on February 1, 2011 9:13am

By Olivia Scheck

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Former first daughter Barbara Bush announced her support for gay marriage this week in a video for the "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" campaign.

"I'm Barbara Bush and I'm a New Yorker for marriage equality," Manhattan resident Bush, 29, said in the video. "New York is about fairness and equality, and everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love."

The video series, which was organized by the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, is intended to rally support for a possible legislative effort to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, according to an earlier statement from the group.

Bush, who attended Yale University and later lived in Greenwich Village, joined a bevy of other celebrities, including Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in speaking out on behalf of the campaign.

Barbara Bush broke with her father former President George W. Bush over the issue of gay marriage.
Barbara Bush broke with her father former President George W. Bush over the issue of gay marriage.
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AP Photo/Susan Walsh

While Bush's views on gay marriage mark a break from those of her father, former President George W. Bush, who supported a constitutional amendment to block the legalization of gay marriage during his time in the White House, she is not the first member of her family to speak out in favor of the issue.

Barbara's mother, Laura Bush, has also voiced her support for gay marriage, as have prominent republicans Dick Cheney and Ted Olson, a statement from the Human Rights Campaign noted.

"Bush's advocacy shows that equality knows no party label and raises the profile of this timely fight for equal marriage rights in the Empire State," the statement said.

A recent survey found record support among New Yorkers for legislation legalizing same-sex marriage, and State Sen. Thomas Duane of Manhattan announced plans to introduce such a bill last month.