Evan Wolfson

2010 John Fryer Award Recipient

Lecture Title: 20/20 Vision: Winning the Freedom to Marry This Decade

Evan Wolfson is Executive Director of Freedom to Marry, the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Before founding Freedom to Marry, Evan served as marriage project director for Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, was co-counsel in the historic Hawaii marriage case, and participated in numerous gay rights and HIV/AIDS cases. Mr. Wolfson previously served as Associate Counsel to Lawrence Walsh in the Iran/Contra investigation, and as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York. Between Yale College and Harvard Law School, Evan spent two years with the Peace Corps in West Africa. Citing his national leadership on marriage equality and his appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. James Dale, the National Law Journal in 2000 named Mr. Wolfson one of “the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.” In 2004, Mr. Wolfson was named one of the “Time 100,” Time Magazine’s list of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World.” Mr. Wolfson’s first book, Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People’s Right to Marry, was published by Simon & Schuster in July 2004.