Brad Pitt Strengthens Stand on Marriage Equality

07/05/2011 at 04:00 PM EDT

"It is encouraging that New York has joined the movement to grant equal marriage rights to its citizens. But it is each American's Constitutional right to marry the person they love, no matter what state they inhabit. No state should decide who can marry and who cannot. Thanks to the tireless work of so many, someday soon this discrimination will end and every American will be able to enjoy their equal right to marriage."

• Brad Pitt, exclusively to PEOPLE, on the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in New York State. The star and marriage-equality activist, 47, once said in an interview that he and Angelina Jolie would not get married until everyone had the same right.