Celebs raise $2M and show support for gay marriage
(CBS News) Hollywood pals George Clooney and Brad Pitt led dozens of celebrities in showing support for gay marriage at a one-night-only reading last weekend of a new play by Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black.
According to American Federation for Equal Rights, one of the sponsors, the reading raised more than $2 million. The money will go toward legal fees in the continuing battle to legalize gay marriage.
Titled "8," the play chronicles the reversal of California's anti-gay marriage legislation, Proposition 8.
It was written by Black, who won an Oscar for his "Milk" screenplay, and directed by Rob Reiner in a Saturday night production at Los Angeles' Wilshire Ebell Theater.
It starred Clooney, Brad Pitt, Kevin Bacon, Chris Colfer, John C. Reilly, Matt Bomer, Campbell Brown, Clleve Jones, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Vanessa Garcia, Christine Lahti, Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison, Rory O'Malley, Jansen Panettiere, James Pickens, Jr., Martin Sheen, Yeardley Smith, George Takei and Bridger Zadina.
Clooney played David Boies, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case, which sought to overturn Proposition 8, denying same-sex couples the right to marry. Pitt played United States District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who found the voter-approved proposition unconstitutional.
Click here to see the full reading, which was streamed online Saturday night.
