Evan Wolfson Speech to National Employment Lawyers Association of New York

Freedom to Marry
November 20, 2009
Excerpts from Evan Wolfson's speech while being honored by the National Employment Lawyers Association of New York on November 19, 2009:

In Maine a couple weeks ago, the marriage legislation passed earlier in the year was subjected to an up-or-down vote by ballot-measure. A minority should not have to go before the majority and plead for an end to discrimination in a vote on fundamental rights; nevertheless, we came very close to prevailing. The most striking demographic feature was that we overwhelmingly carried the urban areas, while the more rural parts of Maine – and there are a lot of them – voted against equality.

In other words, in places where gay people are most visible, where our families most integrated into the fabric of life, where we’ve had the most conversations about who gay people are and why marriage matters, people affirmed the freedom to marry. In the areas with less visibility and fewer conversations, we narrowly failed to move the just 15,000 more people whose support would have made the difference.

The path ahead is clear: we need more of us, gay and non-gay, speaking with others in our circles and beyond about the shared values of family, fairness, and freedom –the values underlying this human rights movement, a movement in which NELA/NY has played a proud part.

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