Meloni for N.Y. Marriage Equality

Law & Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni joins the marriage equality video series from the Human Rights Campaign.

"Already five states and the District of Columbia have marriage equality," says the actor, who was born in D.C. and is best known for playing NYPD detective Elliot Stabler on the NBC police drama. "It's time for New York to lead again."

The video arrives one day after a Siena Research Institute poll indicated record levels of support for marriage equality among New York voters at 58%, with opposition falling to 36%. Moreover, the poll showed that voters hold high levels of confidence in Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat who has pledged to make marriage equality a priority in the post-budget portion of the legislative session that ends in June. The state senate, now controlled by Republicans, failed to pass the bill in 2009 by a vote of 38 to 24, but the Democratic-led assembly has voted for marriage equality three times.

"We are thrilled to add Christopher Meloni to the growing majority of New Yorkers who support the freedom to marry," said Brian Ellner, senior strategist for HRC in New York. "With support for equality at a record high 58% in the state, we're confident that all loving, committed couples will soon be able to marry the person that they love. As Chris says in his video, it's time for New York to lead again."

The New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign, which has appeared online and on the city's Taxi TV, features prominent New Yorkers to move viewers to lobby their state lawmakers. Other videos in the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign so far have included Barbara Bush, daughter of former president George W. Bush; New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg; former mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins; former police commissioner Bill Bratton and Rikki Klieman; Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; Joan Rivers; Whoopi Goldberg; Lucy Liu; Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon; Russell Simmons; Julianne Moore; Ethan and Ryan Hawke; Moby; Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell; Fran Drescher; Mark and Sunrise Ruffalo; chefs Mario Batali, David Chang, and Tom Colicchio; Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe; Kenneth Cole; John Slattery; and Daphne Rubin-Vega.