Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the nation’s oldest nonprofit fighting for the legal rights of lesbians and gay men, announced last week that pioneering legal advocate Evan Wolfson will be leaving the organization next month. Wolfson is best known for his work on the groundbreaking gay-marriage suit in Hawaii in the early 1990s and his efforts to stop the Boy Scouts from discriminating against gay members. He also assisted the Boston-based Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) in the Vermont Supreme Court case that resulted in civil unions.

During his 12 years at Lambda, Wolfson witnessed a sea change in societal attitudes toward gay men and lesbians, as evinced by cultural milestones from Ellen DeGeneres’s coming out to legal breakthroughs in matters of child custody. He attributes the public’s increased support for gay rights to the national discussion the Hawaii Supreme Court kicked off when it issued a preliminary ruling stating that it might be discriminatory to prohibit same-sex marriage (Hawaiian voters ultimately changed their state constitution to prevent it). “Before 1993, many people were concerned that full equality as represented by the freedom to marry was just unattainable,” he says. But the court decision made them realize it wasn’t such an impossible dream.

Even post-Lambda, gay marriage remains Wolfson’s Holy Grail. “It’s essential to always say the M-word, because marriage is the vocabulary in which non-gay people talk about love and commitment and sacrifice,” he notes. In his new career, fueled by a grant from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, he’ll focus on developing legal, political, and grassroots strategies for winning marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. He’s optimistic about his chances: “There are many states out there where we have very promising opportunities for a breakthrough over the next few years,” he says. Lawmakers in Connecticut recently held informal hearings on the possibility of same-sex marriage; Rhode Island is currently considering both civil-union and marriage bills. “This is not pie-in-the-sky ideas about the next century,” he emphasizes. “This could happen in the next five years if we do our work right.”

Wolfson’s greatest accomplishment with Lambda may have been his work in shaping public debate. “When we began the [Boy Scout] case,” he says, “many people didn’t focus on gay and lesbian youth, and saw it as, ‘Why are gay people trying to get into the Scouts?’ Now people realize there are gay youth, and gay leaders, and the question is, ‘Why are the Scouts trying to kick them out?’” His efforts on the marriage front similarly helped dispel stereotypes about promiscuity and showed America the caring, committed side of gay relationships.

In spite of George W. Bush’s presidential victory — and the likelihood that he’ll appoint a more conservative judiciary — Wolfson insists that marriage is still a winnable fight. “Judges can be educated; legislators can be moved,” he says. “The work of our civil-rights movement should not be defined solely by what we believe is attainable in a given battle. The work is to enlarge what’s attainable.”

Issue Date: March 29 - April 5, 2001