Evan Wolfson
Encyclopedia
Evan Wolfson is an American civil rights attorney and advocate. He is founder and executive director of Freedom to Marry
, a group favoring same-sex marriage in the United States
. Wolfson, who many consider to be the father and leader of the marriage movement, authored the book Why Marriage Matters; America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry, which Time Out New York magazine called, "Perhaps the most important gay-marriage primer ever written..." He was listed as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. He has taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School
, Rutgers Law School
, and Whittier Law School
and argued before the Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
.
Wolfson and his husband microbiologist Cheng HeKendell, Kate For Evan Wolfson, an 'I Do' Filled With 'I Did', The Advocate
13 October 2011 reside in New York City
.
and grew up in Pittsburgh
. In 1978 he graduated from Yale College
, where he was a resident of Silliman College
, a history major, and was Speaker of the Yale Political Union
. After graduation he served in the Peace Corps
in Togo
, in western Africa
. He returned and entered Harvard Law School
, where he earned his Juris Doctor
in 1983. Wolfson also wrote his 1983 Harvard Law thesis on marriage equality, long before the question gained national prominence. On October 6, 2010, he returned to the Yale Political Union to debate the issue of marriage for same-sex couples against opponent Maggie Gallagher
, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, a group identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group.
at Harvard College
before he returned to his birthplace as Kings County (Brooklyn
) assistant district attorney, prosecuting sex crimes and homicides, as well as serving in the Appeals Bureau. There, he wrote a Supreme Court amicus brief that helped win a nationwide ban on race discrimination in jury selection (Batson v. Kentucky
). Wolfson also wrote a brief to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals
, that helped win the elimination of the marital rape exemption (People v. Liberta).
Following the District Attorney’s Office, Wolfson served as Associate Counsel to Lawrence Walsh in the Office of Independent Counsel (Iran/Contra). In 1992, he served on the New York State Task Force on Sexual Harassment.
. His casework was remarkable. In the landmark Baehr v. Miike
(80 Hawai'i 341), the Hawaii Supreme Court said prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying may violate Hawaii
's constitutional equal protection clause
unless it is justified by a compelling reason. In 1998 Hawaiian voters amended their Constitution to allow the state legislature to restrict marriage to men and women only—an invitation that the Hawaiian legislature promptly accepted—which rendered the equal protection clause argument moot. Wolfson worked on Baker v. Vermont
, the Vermont Supreme Court
case that led to the creation of Civil Union
s. This was the Vermont legislature's attempt at a compromise between Wolfson's group, wanting identical rights for gay couples, and those objecting to same-sex marriage
. Wolfson called the unions a "wonderful step forward," but not enough.
. In that opinion, the Court overturned the New Jersey Supreme Court
's application of the state's public accommodations law, which forced the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to readmit Dale. When he was a student at Rutgers University
, Dale took part in a seminar on gay
youth. He was expelled from Scouting
after BSA officials saw coverage of the seminar in a local newspaper and Dale was quoted as gay. Justice Stevens wrote in the dissent, "Indeed, in this case there is no evidence that the young Scouts in Dale's troop, or members of their families, were even aware of his sexual orientation, either before or after his public statements at Rutgers University." The Justices questioned Wolfson "aggressively." Justice Scalia, who joined the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Rehnquist, told Wolfson he placed himself in the awkward position of arguing that if the Boy Scouts placed more of an emphasis on anti-gay teachings, the organization would have First Amendment
protection. Wolfson responded that the BSA would never want the likely negative public reaction to explicit anti-gay messages. Chicago Tribune
reporter Jan Greenburg said it was an "intense hour of questions." Wolfson pointed to Supreme Court rulings that the Jaycees, Rotarians and other large organizations cannot discriminate against women under certain state anti-discrimination laws.
A split Court ruled 5-4 against Dale. Wolfson, however, reflected on the positive publicity the case received: "This is great. Even before we change the [Boy Scout] policy, we are succeeding in getting people to rethink how they feel about gay
people." James Dale said of Wolfson: "Evan understood the importance of the organization to me, and the importance of an American institution like the Boy Scouts discriminating against somebody and how that could impact the public dialogue and conversation."
On April 30, 2001, Wolfson left Lambda to form Freedom to Marry
with a "very generous" grant from the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund. Wolfson described the breadth of his vision for the new organization: "I'm not in this just to change the law. It's about changing society. I want gay kids to grow up believing that they can get married, that they can join the Scouts, that they can choose the life they want to live." Lambda Executive Director Kevin Cathcart said that over twelve years Wolfson had "personified Lambda's passion and vision for equality." Kate Kendall, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights
, said of her experience with Wolfson at Lambda: "What I can now say is that, in the intervening years, what has been made unmistakably clear to me by the lesbians and gay men that we work with and represent, is that the denial of our right to marry exacerbates our marginalization; winning that right is the cornerstone of full justice."
paper; twenty years later Time Magazine recognized him as symbolic of that civil rights movement. In his book Why Marriage Matters, Wolfson calls marriage "a relationship of emotional and financial interdependence between two people who make a public commitment." With this view, Wolfson heads Freedom to Marry
, a coalition organization fighting for marriage equality
in the United States.
In 2004 Time Magazine included Wolfson on its list of the "100 most influential people in the world." Time credited Wolfson for making an impossible idea—marriage for gay people—conceivable. His influence has been far-reaching: On September 1, 2006, Jewish Week reported the Conservative
movement will ordain gay rabbis and sanction same-sex unions.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
ruled on February 4, 2004, that the legislature can't substitute "civil unions" for marriage with same-sex couples. However, recent decisions in New York
and Washington State have dealt setbacks for Wolfson's work. Known for his optimism, Wolfson commented on the Washington Supreme Court
's decision in a column entitled, Stay in the Fight. "It was a splintered court. Four justices joined powerful dissents. A three-justice plurality applying the wrong standard of review—one that was undeservedly, hopelessly, and self-fulfillingly deferential—was joined by two justices in a fiery anti-gay concurrence, making up the margin of defeat."
Some critics such as BeyondMarriage.org assert Wolfson and others' work is too narrowly focused on a limited marriage agenda. Richard Kim, signatory and founding board member of Queers for Economic Justice, disputes Wolfson's assertion that the marriage equality movement is not pushing for a traditional, heterosexual model for all gays and lesbians and creating a political schism, and as such, gravely misrepresent the consequences of their own work for the past 20 years." Wolfson replied "I think if Terrence McNally, Steinem and the others were actually shown some of Richard Kim’s articles as opposed to the broad, conciliatory and coalition-building goals found in that statement, they would not endorse his articles nor his views." In a New York Times review of Why Marriage Matters, author William Saletan
states what he sees as flaws in Wolfson's reasoning. "[His] abstract theory of equality
flattens...distinction.... Thus he demands protection of committed gay couples not because they resemble heterosexual couples in all relevant respects but because it's wrong to discriminate against people because of their 'differences'." Wolfson does not favor the civil union
or domestic partnership
approaches, because semantic differences create "a stigma of exclusion" and deny gay couples "social and other advantages."
Freedom to Marry
Freedom to Marry is a non-profit organization leading the campaign for same-sex marriages to be recognized nationwide in the United States of America...
, a group favoring same-sex marriage in the United States
Same-sex marriage in the United States
The federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage in the United States, but such marriages are recognized by some individual states. The lack of federal recognition was codified in 1996 by the Defense of Marriage Act, before Massachusetts became the first state to grant marriage licenses...
. Wolfson, who many consider to be the father and leader of the marriage movement, authored the book Why Marriage Matters; America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry, which Time Out New York magazine called, "Perhaps the most important gay-marriage primer ever written..." He was listed as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. He has taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
, Rutgers Law School
Rutgers School of Law—Newark
Rutgers School of Law–Newark is the oldest of three law schools in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located at the S.I. Newhouse Center for Law and Justice, at 123 Washington Street, in downtown Newark...
, and Whittier Law School
Whittier Law School
Whittier Law School is a law school in Costa Mesa, California. Founded in 1966, it is a fully accredited ABA law school in Orange County, California. A private university, it is part of Whittier College.-History:...
and argued before the Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale, , was a case of the Supreme Court of the United States overturning the New Jersey Supreme Court's application of the New Jersey public accommodations law, which had forced the Boy Scouts of America to readmit assistant Scoutmaster James Dale...
.
Wolfson and his husband microbiologist Cheng HeKendell, Kate For Evan Wolfson, an 'I Do' Filled With 'I Did', The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
13 October 2011 reside in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Background
Wolfson was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and grew up in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. In 1978 he graduated from Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
, where he was a resident of Silliman College
Silliman College
Silliman College is a residential college at Yale University. It opened in September 1940 as the last of the original ten residential colleges, and includes buildings that were constructed as early as 1901...
, a history major, and was Speaker of the Yale Political Union
Yale Political Union
The Yale Political Union , a debate society now the largest student organization at Yale University, was founded in 1934 by Professor Alfred Whitney Griswold , to enliven the university's political culture of the time. It was modelled on the Cambridge Union Society and Oxford Union...
. After graduation he served in the Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
in Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
, in western Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. He returned and entered Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, where he earned his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
in 1983. Wolfson also wrote his 1983 Harvard Law thesis on marriage equality, long before the question gained national prominence. On October 6, 2010, he returned to the Yale Political Union to debate the issue of marriage for same-sex couples against opponent Maggie Gallagher
Maggie Gallagher
Margaret Gallagher Srivastav , better known by her working name Maggie Gallagher, is an American writer, commentator, and opponent of same-sex marriage. She has written a syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate since 1995, and has published five books...
, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, a group identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group.
Early career
Wolfson taught political philosophyPolitical philosophy
Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...
at Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
before he returned to his birthplace as Kings County (Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
) assistant district attorney, prosecuting sex crimes and homicides, as well as serving in the Appeals Bureau. There, he wrote a Supreme Court amicus brief that helped win a nationwide ban on race discrimination in jury selection (Batson v. Kentucky
Batson v. Kentucky
Batson v. Kentucky, , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that a prosecutor's use of peremptory challenge—the dismissal of jurors without stating a valid cause for doing so—may not be used to exclude jurors based solely on their race...
). Wolfson also wrote a brief to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals
New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...
, that helped win the elimination of the marital rape exemption (People v. Liberta).
Following the District Attorney’s Office, Wolfson served as Associate Counsel to Lawrence Walsh in the Office of Independent Counsel (Iran/Contra). In 1992, he served on the New York State Task Force on Sexual Harassment.
Landmark marriage cases
From 1989 until 2001 Wolfson worked full-time at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national non-profit organization that furthers gay rights through litigation, education, and public policy work. He directed their Marriage Project and coordinated the National Freedom to Marry Coalition, the forerunner to Freedom to MarryFreedom to Marry
Freedom to Marry is a non-profit organization leading the campaign for same-sex marriages to be recognized nationwide in the United States of America...
. His casework was remarkable. In the landmark Baehr v. Miike
Baehr v. Miike
Baehr v. Miike is a 1993 Supreme Court of Hawaii case in which three same-sex couples argued that the state's prohibition of same-sex marriage violated the state constitution...
(80 Hawai'i 341), the Hawaii Supreme Court said prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying may violate Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
's constitutional equal protection clause
Equal Protection Clause
The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"...
unless it is justified by a compelling reason. In 1998 Hawaiian voters amended their Constitution to allow the state legislature to restrict marriage to men and women only—an invitation that the Hawaiian legislature promptly accepted—which rendered the equal protection clause argument moot. Wolfson worked on Baker v. Vermont
Baker v. Vermont
Baker v. Vermont, 744 A.2d 864 , was handed down on December 20, 1999 by the Vermont Supreme Court. The decision represented one of the first high-level judicial affirmations of same-sex couples' right to treatment equivalent to that of traditionally married couples...
, the Vermont Supreme Court
Vermont Supreme Court
The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont and is one of seven state courts of Vermont.The Court consists of a chief justice and four associate justices; the Court mostly hears appeals of cases that have been decided by other courts...
case that led to the creation of Civil Union
Civil union
A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...
s. This was the Vermont legislature's attempt at a compromise between Wolfson's group, wanting identical rights for gay couples, and those objecting to same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
. Wolfson called the unions a "wonderful step forward," but not enough.
Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale
Wolfson appeared before the United States Supreme Court on April 26, 2000, to argue on behalf of Scoutmaster James Dale in the landmark case Boy Scouts of America v. DaleBoy Scouts of America v. Dale
Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale, , was a case of the Supreme Court of the United States overturning the New Jersey Supreme Court's application of the New Jersey public accommodations law, which had forced the Boy Scouts of America to readmit assistant Scoutmaster James Dale...
. In that opinion, the Court overturned the New Jersey Supreme Court
New Jersey Supreme Court
The New Jersey Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It has existed in three different forms under the three different state constitutions since the independence of the state in 1776...
's application of the state's public accommodations law, which forced the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to readmit Dale. When he was a student at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
, Dale took part in a seminar on gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
youth. He was expelled from Scouting
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
after BSA officials saw coverage of the seminar in a local newspaper and Dale was quoted as gay. Justice Stevens wrote in the dissent, "Indeed, in this case there is no evidence that the young Scouts in Dale's troop, or members of their families, were even aware of his sexual orientation, either before or after his public statements at Rutgers University." The Justices questioned Wolfson "aggressively." Justice Scalia, who joined the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Rehnquist, told Wolfson he placed himself in the awkward position of arguing that if the Boy Scouts placed more of an emphasis on anti-gay teachings, the organization would have First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
protection. Wolfson responded that the BSA would never want the likely negative public reaction to explicit anti-gay messages. Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
reporter Jan Greenburg said it was an "intense hour of questions." Wolfson pointed to Supreme Court rulings that the Jaycees, Rotarians and other large organizations cannot discriminate against women under certain state anti-discrimination laws.
A split Court ruled 5-4 against Dale. Wolfson, however, reflected on the positive publicity the case received: "This is great. Even before we change the [Boy Scout] policy, we are succeeding in getting people to rethink how they feel about gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
people." James Dale said of Wolfson: "Evan understood the importance of the organization to me, and the importance of an American institution like the Boy Scouts discriminating against somebody and how that could impact the public dialogue and conversation."
On April 30, 2001, Wolfson left Lambda to form Freedom to Marry
Freedom to Marry
Freedom to Marry is a non-profit organization leading the campaign for same-sex marriages to be recognized nationwide in the United States of America...
with a "very generous" grant from the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund. Wolfson described the breadth of his vision for the new organization: "I'm not in this just to change the law. It's about changing society. I want gay kids to grow up believing that they can get married, that they can join the Scouts, that they can choose the life they want to live." Lambda Executive Director Kevin Cathcart said that over twelve years Wolfson had "personified Lambda's passion and vision for equality." Kate Kendall, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Lesbian Rights
The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national non-profit, public interest law firm that advocates for equitable public policies affecting the LGBT community, provides free legal assistance to LGBT clients and their legal advocates, and conducts community education on LGBT legal issues. It...
, said of her experience with Wolfson at Lambda: "What I can now say is that, in the intervening years, what has been made unmistakably clear to me by the lesbians and gay men that we work with and represent, is that the denial of our right to marry exacerbates our marginalization; winning that right is the cornerstone of full justice."
Freedom to Marry
In 1983 Wolfson first wrote about marriage equality in a Harvard LawHarvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
paper; twenty years later Time Magazine recognized him as symbolic of that civil rights movement. In his book Why Marriage Matters, Wolfson calls marriage "a relationship of emotional and financial interdependence between two people who make a public commitment." With this view, Wolfson heads Freedom to Marry
Freedom to Marry
Freedom to Marry is a non-profit organization leading the campaign for same-sex marriages to be recognized nationwide in the United States of America...
, a coalition organization fighting for marriage equality
Marriage Equality
Marriage Equality USA is an organization working for marriage equality for all non-heterosexual couples. The group works by doing public education and outreach, media campaigns and holding visibility events. Marriage Equality, Inc...
in the United States.
In 2004 Time Magazine included Wolfson on its list of the "100 most influential people in the world." Time credited Wolfson for making an impossible idea—marriage for gay people—conceivable. His influence has been far-reaching: On September 1, 2006, Jewish Week reported the Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
movement will ordain gay rabbis and sanction same-sex unions.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.-History:...
ruled on February 4, 2004, that the legislature can't substitute "civil unions" for marriage with same-sex couples. However, recent decisions in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Washington State have dealt setbacks for Wolfson's work. Known for his optimism, Wolfson commented on the Washington Supreme Court
Washington Supreme Court
The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and eight Justices. of the Court are elected to six-year terms...
's decision in a column entitled, Stay in the Fight. "It was a splintered court. Four justices joined powerful dissents. A three-justice plurality applying the wrong standard of review—one that was undeservedly, hopelessly, and self-fulfillingly deferential—was joined by two justices in a fiery anti-gay concurrence, making up the margin of defeat."
Some critics such as BeyondMarriage.org assert Wolfson and others' work is too narrowly focused on a limited marriage agenda. Richard Kim, signatory and founding board member of Queers for Economic Justice, disputes Wolfson's assertion that the marriage equality movement is not pushing for a traditional, heterosexual model for all gays and lesbians and creating a political schism, and as such, gravely misrepresent the consequences of their own work for the past 20 years." Wolfson replied "I think if Terrence McNally, Steinem and the others were actually shown some of Richard Kim’s articles as opposed to the broad, conciliatory and coalition-building goals found in that statement, they would not endorse his articles nor his views." In a New York Times review of Why Marriage Matters, author William Saletan
William Saletan
William Saletan is the national correspondent at Slate.com. Saletan gained recognition in the fall of 2004 with nearly daily columns covering the ups and downs of the Presidential race. He currently writes the 'Human Nature' column...
states what he sees as flaws in Wolfson's reasoning. "[His] abstract theory of equality
Social equality
Social equality is a social state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in a certain respect. At the very least, social equality includes equal rights under the law, such as security, voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, and the...
flattens...distinction.... Thus he demands protection of committed gay couples not because they resemble heterosexual couples in all relevant respects but because it's wrong to discriminate against people because of their 'differences'." Wolfson does not favor the civil union
Civil union
A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...
or domestic partnership
Domestic partnership
A domestic partnership is a legal or personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union...
approaches, because semantic differences create "a stigma of exclusion" and deny gay couples "social and other advantages."
Selected writings
- When the police are in our bedrooms, shouldn't the courts go in after them?: An update on the fight against "Sodomy" laws, (with Robert S. Mower); 21 Fordham Urban Law Journal 997 (1994).
- Crossing the Threshold: Equal Marriage Rights for Lesbians and Gay Men and the Intra-Community Critique, 21 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 567 (1994).
- The Supreme Court's Decision in Romer v. Evans and its Implications for the Defense of Marriage Act, (with Michael Melcher), 16 Quinnipiac Law Review 217 (1996).
- Symposium: The Right to Marry: Making the case to go forward: Introduction: Marriage, Equality and America: Committed Couples, Committed Lives, 13 Widener Law Journal 691 (2004).
- Why Marriage Matters; America, Equality and Gay People's Right to Marry, Simon & Schuster hardcover edition printed July 27, 2004.
- Marriage Equality and Some Lessons for the Scary Work of Winning, 14 Law & Sexuality 135 (2005).
Recognition
- "John Fryer Award" (2010), American Psychiatric Association
- “Human Rights Hero” (2009) Human Rights Magazine (American Bar Association)
- Del Martin Phyllis Lyon Marriage Equality Award
- "One of the 100 most influential gay men and women in America." (2008)
- "One of the 100 most influential people in the world." (2004) Time Magazine
- “One of the 100 most influential lawyers in America” (2000) National Law Journal
External links
- Huffington Post
- Today is Freedom to Marry Day - Just Don't Say "Gay Marriage"!, Evan Wolfson, Huffington Post, February 12, 2008.
- Biography of Evan Wolfson
- Video: September 29, 2005 debate between Rev. Lou Sheldon and Evan Wolfson