This last Saturday evening I had dinner with Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry. Now, when I decided to go, I knew who he was and a little about what he had done in his life. I knew that Evan played a monumental role in the fight for marriage equality nationwide. I also knew that he was co-counsel in the historic Hawaii marriage case, and participated in numerous gay rights cases--what I didn't know until afterwards was that before founding Freedom to Marry, Evan served as marriage project director for Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund; Previously served as Associate Counsel to Lawrence Walsh in the Iran/Contra investigation, and as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York. Between Yale College and Harvard Law School, Evan spent two years with the Peace Corps in West Africa; Citing his national leadership on marriage equality and his appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. James Dale, the National Law Journal in 2000 named Evan one of "the 100 most influential lawyers in America."

In 2004, Evan was named one of the "Time 100," Time magazine's list of "the 100 most influential people in the world." Now this is something I surely didn't know when I met with him. So maybe I should have done more extensive research... but still.

Evan had some very intriguing and insightful thoughts on where the movement stands right now. Particularly about here in Oregon. He was incredibly proud of how far we have taken the movement in the past 2 years. Through wins and losses--we are on the right track to full marriage equality.

So, most of us are fully aware of the ups and downs here in Oregon. Measure 36, a major loss in court -- and a major win in the Oregon Senate, despite Karen Minnis blocking the vote in the Oregon House.

Evan feels as though Oregon will be in the first round of states that will achieve full marriage equality--that was welcomed news. We've got to further engage the middle, people of faith and even our own progressive allies that aren't involved in the quest for full equality.

Evan also made a statement about California's AB 849. His thinking is that even if the Governor does end up vetoing the bill, it is still a huge win. Evan said, "This vote means we've entered a new era. It doesn't mean we'll win overnight, but it means we've turned the tide."

I encourage all of you to read his new book, Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry.

Post by Bryan Harding

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2005 at 12:32 PM. Want to discuss? Leave a comment below.