‘Modern love story’ Australian gay rights ad goes viral

Only a handful of nations have ratified the right of members of the LGBT community to marry. This means the fight for marriage equality is still one of the most important civil rights battles being fought across the world. That a video produced for the Australian marriage equality campaign went viral is proof of this.

Australian activist group Get Up!, produced the video to be flighted on Australian television as part of its support for Australia’s fights for marriage equality. The group also posted the video, with the slogan “Marriage Matters,” on video sharing site YouTube.

In one weekend, the video garnered over one-million views.

The video has also been shared on social media by Hollywood stars including; Modern Family‘s, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Star Trek legend George Takei.

Ferguson and Harris have also taken part in other online gay rights initiatives.

Amongst other campaigns Ferguson produced an It Gets Better video, and Takei volunteered his last name as a substitute for the word “gay” against the state of Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Takei also shared the video on the website for Allegiance: A New American Musical, a stage production he is currently involved in. He also wrote a short message about the video:

When people talk about same sex marriage, what is often forgotten in the politics is that, fundamentally, this is about love.

The young man you see in this video finds the love of his life, and it shouldn’t matter what the gender of his spouse is.

Please watch, reflect and share this message. Marriage equality — it’s time.

There are, however, no better words than those from Get Up! in describing the video.

“Share the butterflies of a first meeting. Share the pain of loss, and the joy of building a life together. Then share the video: flood your friends’ Facebook walls, email and tweet at them, grab a friend or family member to watch the video over your shoulder and share this modern love story.”