Anne Hathaway. (Reuters)
Anne Hathaway, Ellen Degeneres and Martin Sheen are just three of over two dozen Hollywood stars pushing President Obama to allow gay couples to legally marry.
The celebrities signed an open letter to the President on Tuesday, urging him to make good on what they said was his movement toward legalizing same-sex marriage.
"In February, you made a powerful statement about the law," the letter reads. "Invoking guarantees enshrined in the Constitution, you and the Attorney General determined that federal discrimination against gay and lesbian couples in marriage is unconstitutional.... Today we ask you to take the next step and join the majority of Americans who support allowing loving and committed gay and lesbian couples to legally marry."
Obama said in February that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, and ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the law in court. "Given that conclusion, the president has instructed the department not to defend the statute in such cases," Attorney Genreal Eric Holder said in a statement at the time. "I fully concur with the president's determination."
But the letter called for more "clarity" from President Obama on the issue.
"We ask you now for your leadership on ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, an exclusion that harms millions of Americans each day," the letter continues. "Whether to end discrimination in marriage is a question America has faced before, and faces again today. With so many Americans talking it through in heartfelt conversations, it is a question that calls for clarity from the President."
At press time, the letter had received received over 28,000 electronic signatures.
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