Ian McKellen has long been at the front of the fight for gay rights (he even co-founded Stonewall) and he’s certainly not been leaving the battle for marriage equality to others. His latest action is to make a video to support a New Zealand equal marriage campaign.
Of course McKellen is no stranger to the country, having spent a lot of time there playing Gandalf in Lord Of The Rings and now The Hobbit. As he says in the video, “I hope that by the time I get back to Middle Earth I might even be able to get married.”
The antipodean nation is currently debating The New Zealand Marriage Amendment Bill, which would legalise equal marriage. It passed its first reading back in August, with a majority of 80 votes to 40 in parliament in support of the change. However it has yet to become law.
McKellen filmed his video for New Zealand Green Party on the set of ITV’s Loose Women, saying “New Zealand gave women the vote before every other country in the world, the rest of the world has looked towards New Zealand for social advance and here we are again- this time at the exciting prospect of two people of the same gender being able to get married and to join the rest of the population.
“It will be a popular move, I know, and I’m glad your major political parties have embraced it, supported too by the younger generation who see things a lot more clearly than people of my age.”
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