Evan Wolfson 'Marriage is a basic human right.' The director of Freedom to Marry, gives a fresh legal perspective on same-sex marriages and civil rights. Wolfson, a veteran trial lawyer for landmark same-sex marriage cases, uses the legal advantages and disadvantages of marriage - heterosexual or otherwise - to highlight the importance of law and economics in civil unions. With the Federal Marriage Amendment in our not-so-distant past, find out exactly what benefits same-sex couples are denied.

Early Reader Quotes:
"I was surprised to read, in this manifesto in support of gay marriage, a lot of great reasons for heterosexual couples to get married as well. This document illustrates that the less- economically-advantaged partner - often the woman in a heterosexual pair - is missing out on a lot if she agrees to a long-term cohabitation with a partner who does not want to legalize their relationship." -- Isabel Walcott

Excerpt from the manifesto:
"The struggle to win the freedom to marry is at least as much about love and equality as it is about law and economics. Ending discrimination in civil marriage would properly hold America to its commitment to be a country where everyone has the right to be both different and equal."

About the author:
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. 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 Evan one of "the 100 most influential lawyers in America." In 2004, Evan was named one of the "Time 100," Time magazine's list of "the 100 most influential people in the world."