WASHINGTON – Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, and Equality NC, the statewide organization working to secure equal rights and justice for LGBTQ North Carolinians, released a new digital ad in North Carolina: “Lennie & Pearl for Roy Cooper.” The ad features Lennie Gerber and Pearl Berlin, a North Carolina couple who have been together for a half century, as they talk about their support for Roy Cooper in the North Carolina governor’s race.

In the ad, Lennie talks about the congratulatory phone call she and Pearl received from Attorney General Cooper after their marriage was finally legalized: “That just shows how supportive he has been. I said to him ‘Well, I hope the next time I talk to you I will say Governor Cooper.’ He’s a good man.”

Watch: “Lennie & Pearl for Roy Cooper”

“Lennie and Pearl are proof that despite overwhelming challenges, love will always trump hate,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “In North Carolina, thousands of pro-equality voters like Lennie and Pearl have the opportunity to defeat Pat McCrory and send pro-equality champion Roy Cooper to Raleigh to help repeal the discriminatory HB2."

Equality NC Executive Director Chris Sgro said, “My friends Lennie and Pearl said it best, ‘The prejudice that still exists is very sad to me.’ This isn't representative of North Carolina values. ​It's time for LGBTQ voters to send a message to Pat McCrory and his cronies in Raleigh that we are better than this, and we deserve better from our elected leadership. I hope everyone joins Lennie, Pearl, and me in voting for Roy Cooper.”

“Lennie & Pearl for Roy Cooper” is part of HRC’s digital campaign targeting pro-equality voters across North Carolina, in coordination with its larger get-out-the-vote effort aimed at mobilizing 10 million LGBTQ voters nationwide and millions more pro-equality voters. The power of the LGBTQ vote in North Carolina is clear: the state has more than 255,800 LGBTQ voters; the margin of victory in the 2012 presidential race in North Carolina was 92,004.

Read more about Lennie and Pearl, their life together and their historic role in achieving marriage equality here. Read more about the LGBTQ vote in North Carolina, and HB2’s damage to the state here.  

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer equality. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

Equality NC is a statewide organization working to secure equal rights and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender North Carolinians. For more information, please visit www.equalitync.org

Paid for by the Human Rights Campaign Equality Votes and Equality North Carolina and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee

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