Evan Wolfson, the founder of Freedom To Marry, and, coincidentally named, “The Godfather of Gay Marriage,” today by The Daily Beast, delivered expert testimony today to the Senate Judiciary Committee on the repeal of DOMA, the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act.
WATCH: NY Same-Sex Marriage: Anderson Cooper, Jeffrey Toobin, Evan Wolfson Discuss
Wolfson discusses his history battling the discriminatory laws banning same-sex marriage equality, and says, “literally every public health and child welfare association in the country, including most-recently the American Medical Association, have all concluded, based on science, evidence, clinical as well as personal experience, that the children being raised by same-sex couples are healthy and fit, and that these kids and their families would benefit from inclusion in marriage, without taking anything away from anyone else.”
Via today’s Daily Beast profile:
“One of the main protections that come with marriage is the word marriage,†Wolfson told me Tuesday. “It brings clarity… It’s a statement that you’re sharing your life with someone. No one ever wrote a song about civil union.â€
Wolfson made the requisite argument that marriage for gays was a civil right guaranteed under the equal protection clause of the Constitution. But his most passionate arguments were historical and moral, maintaining that since society had arbitrarily defined homosexuals as “wholly apart and different,†it could also reverse such prejudices.
“Our job is to advocate for what we truly deserve—not just for what we think is doable,†says Wolfson. “We have 44 states to go.â€