Hineini: The Legacy and Lessons of Marriage Equality

“We won under the Constitution. But, of course, the Constitution didn’t just fulfill its own promise. It took a movement to do that – so much work, sacrifice, trust, and hope to achieve this transformation, this triumph.” -- Evan Wolfson on Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that the Constitution guarantees the freedom to marry to same-sex couples

When it comes to the fight for marriage equality, the life of renowned civil rights lawyer and strategist Evan Wolfson embodies the spirit of “Hineini; here I am.” But in 1983, he was just a young student at Harvard Law School, crafting a thesis advocating for the freedom of same-sex couples to marry—a paper that, three decades later, served as the inspiration for the national strategy to win marriage equality nationwide with Obergefell vs. Hodges. Now, with the rights of LGBTQIA+ folks, women, and other marginalized communities under attack, Wolfson joins Rabbi Hilly Haber to explore the lessons learned from the fight for and triumph of marriage equality, and how these insights can help us face today’s civic challenges.

Evan Wolfson (he/him/his) is an internationally recognized civil rights lawyer, strategist, and is widely recognized as the architect of the marriage equality movement. He was the founder and president of Freedom to Marry, the pioneering campaign which drove the successful strategy that won same-sex couples the right to marry throughout the United States.