Freedom to Marry

I was very touched and surprised to see this profile appear on Substack, especially because the author did such an excellent job distilling and offering lessons from my work for the urgent work still upon us -- most notably, defending and reinvigorating liberal democracy here at home in the US and worldwide.

The Long Arc of Love and Law: Evan Wolfson and the Leadership That Changed America Profiles in Leadership: The Pittsburgh Series

He had his flaws, we had our disagreements, and, like so many who worked with him, I had a few face-to-face arguments with him (which wasn't easy)...but was a giant, a pioneer, and a hero. As one of my college professors once remarked, in a turn of phrase that has stuck with me ever since, "It's not that great men have feet of clay; it's that men with feet of clay can still be great." And Barney was great -- brilliant, skillful, courageous, and, of course, endlessly witty.

My favorite personal moment with Barney was when he confessed to me, years down the road, that in our fight to win the freedom to marry, over which we had tussled, he had been "under-optimistic." My favorite quote of his I cannot recount here. 🙂

Congress needs the likes of him. And I will miss him.

Another huge step forward in -- respect for marriages celebrated abroad, and movement toward the Freedom to Marry throughout . Congrats to the activists leading the way.

Miłość nie wyklucza Kampania Przeciw Homofobii

Poland's leader promises to start recognizing foreign same-sex marriages, after EU court ruling - LGBTQ Nation He also apologized for the “years of rejection and humiliation” that same-sex couples have experienced in Poland.

Check out the conversation I had the other day with Democrats Abroad on what's at stake for LGBTQ+ Americans in the upcoming mid-term elections -- and what we all can do to defend and reinvigorate liberal democracy in the US and globally.

LINK HERE: http://bit.ly/427gUlO
PASSCODE HERE:

Some takeaways from our chat:
- Keep up on the news, but don't let yourself get overwhelmed by it. No wallowing! Focus on the pathway, not the problem.
- Find LGBT or ally organizations you can support financially or as a volunteer, as well as supportive candidates in key contests/swing states.
-Focus on and amplify the positive things that have happened for democracy lately (Democrats winning most special elections, regime change in Hungary, good court rulings in Poland, Hungary, etc.)
- Engage people in conversation, remind young people of their power and lessons from history on resilience, strategy, and hope
- And most importantly...VOTE, and get your friends, family, and others in your community to do so as well.

Overseas Americans, for more info on voting from abroad visit https://www.votefromabroad.org

Vote from Abroad: Request Absentee Ballots for US Citizens Vote from Abroad: Helping US Citizens Request Their Absentee Ballot to Vote from Outside the US

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the number of households led by same-sex couples has doubled since 2005 – and that many of these couples are married and raising children. It’s further evidence of the positive impacts of the freedom to marry, which has helped millions of Americans build their lives with confidence, dignity, and respect. Read more from the Census: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2026/04/same-sex-couples.html

Recent campaigns to undercut marriage equality have attacked kids, claiming that children of same-sex couples have been harmed by the freedom to marry. In a new article in the Los Angeles Times, Ben Karney – lead author of a RAND Corporation report on twenty years of the freedom to marry in the United States – debunks these claims. “If any harm resulted from allowing same-sex couples to marry, it ought to be well documented by now,” he writes. Read the full piece: https://bit.ly/482B3wL