Evan Wolfson’s work with the Freedom to Marry project has been recognized as one of the key reasons the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of legalizing gay marriage.

The New York-born, Harvard-educated attorney was already nationally prominent in the field of gay rights when the Haas Jr. Fund offered him a chance to have even more of an impact.

“In 2003, the Haas, Jr. Fund provided me with the generous seed grant needed for me to leave Lambda Legal and build Freedom to Marry,” says Wolfson from his New York office. “The idea was that, having just come through the landmark Hawaii and Vermont cases, which helped us frame the discussion, we could now build on those successes and what we learned before and take it all the way to gay marriage.”

Wolfson had been working since 1989 as director of Lambda's Marriage Project, during which time he coordinated the National Freedom to Marry Coalition. He served as co-counsel in the landmark Hawaii marriage case, Baehr v. Miike, and assisted the legal team in Baker v. Vermont, the Vermont Supreme Court ruling that led to the creation of "civil unions," a new legal marital status for same-sex couples.

Wolfson was honored in 2000 by the National Law Journal which named him one of "the 100 most influential attorneys in America." And in 2004, Evan was named one of the "Time 100," Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Wolfson is also an author; his book, Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry, was published by Simon & Schuster in July 2004. He says the book was a natural extension of his outreach efforts.

“When I was initially approached to do the book, my response was, ‘why would I do this since I’ve done this argument a million times?’ But I was persuaded that it would be additional resource for those fighting the fight – and I always hear that people give it to others they want to convince.”

Clearly, Wolfson is now an expert at being convincing. He was the first Lambda attorney to argue before the United States Supreme Court, urging the Justices to reject the Boy Scouts of America's appeal of a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that struck down their ban on gay members and leaders. Following the 5-4 vote in his favor, Wolfson was instrumental in shaping the national discussion that followed.

Because of his expertise in formulating a convincing message, the Haas, Jr. Fund decided to partner Freedom to Marry with other organizations seeking to establish marriage rights for gay couples.

"Through support of Freedom to Marry, as well as several other key partners, Haas, Jr. has fostered very strong working relationships between organizations," says Wolfson. "They helped create an entity that enabled all partners to come together under one solid strategy. The idea was that each group—each player—would do its part, and have its moment in the spotlight. This collaboration of organizations and funders have advanced this cause to where it is today."