American Apparel Shows Support For Gay Marriage In France

American Apparel continues to show its support for gay marriage, this time extending a helping hand to France.

Beauty World News reports that the clothing giant will be giving away thousands of “Legalize Gay” shirts in an effort to bolster the cause. Supporters will be able to get the shirts on the streets of Paris as well as the company’s brick and mortar locations.

Based in Los Angeles, American Apparel has been an outspoken proponent of gay rights. In 2008, the company publicly took part in the fight against the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban by distributing “Gay OK” shirts. They have since given out upwards of 100,000.

The current step into the public fight was initiated by French employees working in support of the efforts to legalize gay marriage in France.

The Sacramento Bee reports that American Apparel CEO and founder Dov Charney issued a statement regarding the decision:

“In America the foundation of our civil rights are written as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – in France it is liberty, equality, fraternity. Our company believes that those creeds by our founding fathers join us in an obligation to fight for freedom and fairness. Both the French and American people have a shared tradition of the pursuit of justice and we are proud to use our company’s resources and give our support to this important fight.”

Although supported by French President Francois Hollande, the legalization of gay marriage in France has struggled against the opposing views of conservative and political groups.

What do you think of American Apparel’s decision to support gay marriage?