Freedom to Marry: 2003

Freedom to Marry was founded in New York City in 2003 by Evan Wolfson, to campaign to win marriage equality nationwide in the United States of America. .[1]

According to the organization's “Roadmap to Victory”, Freedom to Marry is working to win marriage in many states, build majority support for marriage equality, and to end federal marriage discrimination by repealing the “Defense of Marriage Act”.

Timeline

Most recent listed first.

January 2011

The Advocate, "Freedom to Marry Announces Expansion Plans," January 2011

The Economist, "Single-Sex Marriage: This house believes that gay marriage should be legal", January 2011

2010

In 2010, Freedom to Marry launched its “Summer for Marriage” campaign countering the National Organization for Marriage’s anti-gay “One Man, One Woman” bus tour. Sean Eldridge, the Political Director of Freedom to Marry, stated: “Our goal is to demonstrate that there are loving, committed same-sex couples across the U.S. who deserve, and thankfully in some states now have, the protections and the responsibilities of marriage. We’re not going to let NOM get away with distracting from and distorting the truth about our families and the protections that we need.”[2]

December 2010

Pacific Daily News, "Civil rights attorney promotes gay marriage", December 2010

Los Angeles Times, "Gains outweigh setback in landmark year for gay rights", December 2010

The Sunday Business Post, "A Very Civil Defense", December 2010

November 2010

The Advocate, "The Message from Iowa", November 2010

Fox News, "Judges Ouster Stirs Debate", November 2010

October 2010

New Jersey Record, "Seizing the Moment", October 2010

August 2010

Anderson Cooper 360, "Same-Sex Marriage Ban Overturned", August 2010

June 2010

The Advocate, "Freedom to Marry Announces Summer Tour", June 2010

August 2009

The New York Times, "Ted Olson's Supreme Court Adventure", August 2009

Senior Staff

Evan Wolfson, Executive Director and Founder. Wolfson is founder and Executive Director of Freedom to Marry. Recognizing his longtime civil rights leadership in the movement for marriage equality, in 2004 TIME magazine named Evan one of the "100 most influential people in the world."[3] Wolfson was co-counsel in the historic Hawaii marriage case, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, served in the Peace Corps in West Africa, and is the author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality and Gay People's Right to Marry.

Michael Crawford, Director of New Media. Before joining Freedom to Marry, Crawford was co-chair of D.C. for Marriage, a grassroots group that helped to successfully pass the D.C. marriage equality bill.[4]

Scott Davenport, Managing Director. Davenport’s served as a Vice President for Oliver Wyman Consulting assisting Fortune 500 companies enhance their strategic direction. He co-founded Family Week in Provincetown, MA. and is currently the Board President for Equality Maryland.[5]

Sean Eldridge, Political Director. Eldridge was one of the architects of Obama for America’s youth organizing strategy and served on the board of the Friends of GLBT Youth in Massachusetts before joining Freedom to Marry. Eldridge’s partner, Chris Hughes, co-founded Facebook and led online organizing for campaign of Presidential candidate Barack Obama. In January 2011, Eldridge and Hughes announced their engagement. [6]

Marc Solomon, Senior Consultant. Solomon joined Freedom to Marry after serving as executive director of MassEquality. Most recently, Marc served as marriage director of Equality California, Solomon led the largest state effort in movement history to make the case for marriage equality through face-to-face conversations.[7]

Thalia Zepatos, Director of Messaging and Field. Zepatos served as the Director of Organizing and Training at the Task Force and served as a consultant for the National Collaborative before joining Freedom to Marry. Zepatos is the co-author of Women for a Change: A Grassroots Guide to Activism and Politics.

See also

• LGBT rights in the United States

• List of LGBT rights organizations

Notes

1 July 26, 2010: http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/hrsummer2009.pdf

2. Hellew, Candace. (2010) Religion Dispatches. Retrieved July 27, 2010: http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/candacechellew-hodge/2871/summer_brings_competing_marriage_tours/

3. Cloud, John. (2004) "Time 100 Heroes." Time Magazine. Retrieved July 26, 2010: http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/2004/time100/heroes/100wolfson.html

4. Retrieved July 26, 2010: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-crawford/dc-marriage-bill-introduc_b_312327.html

5. Retrieved July 27, 2010: http://www.equalitymaryland.org/pr_2009/pr2009.10.13.htm

6. The Advocate. "A Place at the State Dinner Table" (2010). Retrieved July 26, 2010: http://www.advocate.com/article.aspx?id=102977)

7. Bay Windows, "Former MassEquality Exec. Dir. joins Freedom to Marry," Oct. 28, 2010, http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=112149

External Links

Freedom to Marry