Bill T. Jones Joins HRC's &quotNew Yorkers for Marriage Equality Campaign&quot

by HRC Staff

World Renowned Director and Choreographer Supports Equality for All New Yorkers

WASHINGTON -Tony Award winning choreographer and 2010 Kennedy Center Honors recipient Bill T. Jones is the latest voice to join the Human Rights Campaign - the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization - in its "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" campaign. In a new video, Jones acknowledges that marriage is a fundamental right and says, "In our society, there are no second class citizens." The campaign, which raises the public profile of marriage equality in the Empire State, can be viewed online at www.hrc.org/NY4marriage.

"We are closer than ever before to having marriage equality in New York," said HRC New York Senior Strategist Brian Ellner. "We're honored to have the highly acclaimed Bill T. Jones supporting our efforts."

A recent poll released by Siena Research Institute shows public opinion continues to trend toward marriage equality in New York State with a record high of 58 percent support and a record low of 36 percent opposition.

Bill T. Jones is a multi-talented artist, choreographer, dancer, theater director and writer. His ventures into Broadway theater resulted in a 2010 Tony Award for Best Choreography in the critically acclaimed FELA! He also earned a 2007 Tony Award for Best Choreography in Spring Awakening as well as an Obie Award for the show's 2006 off-Broadway run. Mr. Jones choreographed and performed worldwide with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982. In 2010, Mr. Jones was named Executive Artistic Director of New York Lives Arts, a new model of artist-led, producing/presenting/touring arts organization unique in the United States that was formed by a merger of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Dance Theater Workshop. For more information, visit www.newyorklivearts.org.

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 Sam Waterston, Christopher Meloni, Mario Batali, David Chang, and Tom Colicchio, Lucy Liu, Bill Bratton and Rikki Klieman, Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Former New York City Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins, 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, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Julianne Moore and Kenneth Cole - with more to follow in the coming weeks.

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.

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