The Fabulous Beekman Boys Speak Out in HRC's Latest New Yorkers for Marriage Equality Campaign

by Admin

Upstate New York Residents and Reality TV Stars Raise Profile of Timely Fight for Equal Marriage

Washington - Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Planet Green's Fabulous Beekman Boys, join the Human Rights Campaign - the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization - in a new video in the "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" campaign. The upstate New Yorkers are the first same-sex couple to appear in the campaign, which raises the public profile of marriage equality in the Empire State and can be viewed online at www.hrc.org/NY4marriage.

"The 'Fabulous Beekman Boys' gives a candid and entertaining look into the lives of a gay couple running a farm in upstate New York," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "In their video, they speak from their hearts about their neighbors treating their relationship with respect while the government continues to deny them the rights that are granted to opposite-sex couples. We are excited to have them join in the call for marriage equality in New York."

Two recent New York polls show a strong majority of New Yorkers support marriage equality. A Siena Research Institute Poll found 57 percent of New Yorkers support marriage for same-sex couples and another recent poll by Quinnipiac University had support at 56 percent.

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. To date, HRC has released videos from the Fabulous Beekman Boys, Former Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins, Ethan and Ryan Hawke, Russell Simmons, Mark and Sunrise Ruffalo, John Slattery, Joan Rivers, 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.

Season two of The Fabulous Beekman Boys premieres on Planet Green Tuesday, March 22 at 10pm/ET. The paperback version of their book, "The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir" also hits stores on March 22.

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

Contact Us

To make a general inquiry, please visit our contact page. Members of the media can reach our press office at: (202) 572-8968 or email press@hrc.org.