Freedom to Marry

01/24/2025

As thousands of same-sex couples married yesterday in Thailand, we are now at 39 countries worldwide where all loving couples can share in the freedom to marry! 🇹🇭

That's across all seven continents, representing 18%+ of the world's population. 🌍💞🌍💞

And in Asia, Thailand is now the third country to win marriage – following the leads of Taiwan and Nepal. 🇹🇼 🇳🇵

Love is winning! Check out the global landscape for the freedom to marry here: https://www.freedomtomarryglobal.org/global-overview

01/23/2025

"I’m so proud, stunned. I didn’t realise that this day would come and I would get this opportunity to be with someone I want to be with.”

Congratulations to the thousands of same-sex couples across Thailand who, as of today, are now legally married. Love won! 🇹🇭

Marriage equality laws come into force, with hundreds of couples tying the knot in special wedding events

01/23/2025

As of today, the freedom to marry is officially law in Thailand –marking the first country in Southeast Asia to secure marriage for same-sex couples! 🇹🇭

Congratulations to Thailand for this enormous, inspiring victory!

01/06/2025

Thailand is gearing up for January 23rd – the day the freedom to marry becomes law, and same-sex couples will be able to legally marry for the first time in Southeast Asia! 🇹🇭

The Interior Ministry is ready for the implementation of the Marriage Equality Bill, which is set to become law later this month, according to ministry spokeswoman Traisulee Taisaranakul.

01/03/2025

Yesterday, Freedom to Marry's founder Evan Wolfson was awarded the Presidential Citizen's Medal, one of the nation's highest civilian awards, by President Biden.

This award is a testament not just to one leader, but to a nationwide movement for the freedom to marry that transformed the conversation about who LGBTQ people are and worked to make love win from coast-to-coast.

As Evan said, "This medal is a tribute to the transformative, democratic work we all did together, and to the power of hope, strategy, determination, and love." https://bit.ly/4h0u0GK

01/02/2025

Today, Freedom to Marry’s founder Evan Wolfson and Mary Bonauto of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders - GLAD Law will be among 20 recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the highest civilian awards in the United States! 🏅 🇺🇸

As The White House explained, “The Presidential Citizens Medal is awarded to citizens of the United States who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens. President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others. The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.

In selecting Evan and Mary, President Biden celebrated the transformative and historic freedom to marry campaign and victory:

“By leading the marriage equality movement, Evan Wolfson helped millions of people in all 50 states win the fundamental right to love, marry, and be themselves. For 32 years, starting with a visionary law school thesis, Evan Wolfson worked with a singular focus and untiring optimism to change not just the law, but society— pioneering a political playbook for change and sharing its lessons, even now with countless causes nationwide.”

Tune in live today at 5pm as President Biden awards Evan and Mary for their leadership in winning the freedom to marry! http://www.whitehouse.gov/live

01/02/2025

"By leading the marriage equality movement, Evan Wolfson helped millions of people in all 50 states win the fundamental right to love, marry, and be themselves. For 32 years, starting with a visionary law school thesis, Evan Wolfson worked with singular focus and untiring optimism to change not just the law, but society—pioneering a political playbook for change and sharing its lessons, even now, with countless causes worldwide."

Tune in live at 5pm ET today as President Biden awards Freedom to Marry's founder Evan Wolfson with the prestigious Presidential Citizen's Medal: https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

According to the White House press release, this award is given to Americans who "have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens."

01/02/2025

Today, Freedom to Marry's founder Evan Wolfson will be among 20 recipients of the Presidential Citizen's Medal – one of the country's highest civilian awards given to leaders who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens."

President Biden will award Evan today at 5pm ET at a ceremony at the White House.

Two close advisers to President Biden will also be honored, in addition to career lawmakers who have worked across the aisle and advocates for liberal causes.

12/13/2024

This marks the third high court to rule strongly in favor of the freedom to marry in Japan.

Now, it's time for lawmakers to act – Japan is ready!

It is the third such high court ruling so far in Japan after the Sapporo High Court in March and the Tokyo High Court in October.

12/02/2024

"Thailand’s same-sex marriage legislation, scheduled to come into effect in January 2025, could attract an additional 4 million tourists to the country per year, according to a report commissioned by the travel company Agoda.

The report published Thursday estimates the country’s marriage equality law may increase tourism arrivals by 10%, netting the country an extra $2 billion in tourism revenue per year, within two years."

Thailand's same-sex marriage law could add 4 million tourists and $2 billion in tourism revenue per year, according to a report commissioned by Agoda.

11/27/2024

This week, our founder Evan Wolfson spoke with The New York Times about the lessons learned in our campaign for the freedom to marry, and thoughts on moving forward to increase public support and understanding for transgender people:

"Evan Wolfson, founder of the pro-same-sex marriage group Freedom to Marry, said he and other activists learned that a key to victory in the long term was accepting small, less rewarding gains at first, like civil unions. 'We always said, ‘We’re not going to ask for civil unions. But we’ll take it as a mechanism to move people along’,” Mr. Wolfson said.

Read the full piece here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/26/us/politics/transgender-activists-rights.html

11/26/2024

Love is winning in Hong Kong! 🇭🇰 💗

The city's high court has once again affirmed dignity and respect for same-sex couples in three separate cases.

This comes more than one year after the same court ordered the city to create some form of legal framework protecting same-sex couples and their families before September 2025.

“The most sensible thing to do is to legalize same-sex marriage. The court made it clear that the government has to come up with a framework. It does not make sense to continue addressing this issue in a piecemeal fashion.” — HK Marriage Equality 婚姻平權協會

Long-running legal battles culminated in a ruling that preserves public housing benefits and inheritance rights in the territory.

11/06/2024

In addition to the Robert Frost quote I posted above (and in the comments below), here is what I wrote the morning after the 2016 election. Still, alas, apt...and as regards the freedom to marry, we now have the Respect for Marriage Act passed by a bipartisan vote of Congress in 2022 and signed into law by President Biden to guard us on that front, at least.

Browse our featured posts or search the archives from Freedom to Marry's blog, which tracked breaking news developments, featured analyses of the fight for marriage, and showcased stories of momentum for national resolution.

10/27/2024

During these next critical days of focus on winning the elections, it's good to have something positive to think about...including these avenues for making progress around the world.

... they have in common the potential to harness the power of marriage as both a goal and a strategy – leveraging the marriage . . .

10/11/2024

The positive financial impact of marriage in the United States is well-documented – with studies repeatedly showing that, irrespective of socioeconomic status, people who are married have higher household income and net worth and spend more than unmarried people. But there’s been little research about marriage’s impact on same-sex couples. Now, a new study from Boston Consulting Group closes that gap with new findings from the largest survey of its kind: 4,000 respondents talking about the freedom to marry. The result? There’s a strong correlation between marriage for same-sex couples and favorable financial outcomes. Don’t miss the full report from BCG:

New BCG research finds a strong correlation between marriage for same-sex couples and favorable financial outcomes as well as positive impacts on the US economy.

09/24/2024

Thailand's King has signed the marriage bill – paving the way for the first same-sex couples to marry in Thailand in January 2025. Love is winning! 🇹🇭

Thailand’s landmark marriage equality bill has been officially written into law, allowing same-sex couples to legally wed

07/25/2024

“The great thing about America is … kings and dictators do not rule. The people do. The power is in your hands… Whether we keep the republic is now in your hands.”

Thank you, President Joe Biden. 🇺🇸 Now it’s up to us to turn out the vote and defend our democracy.

07/24/2024

Bumping this up for today…

Our movement took decades to change attitudes and laws. The strategic lessons we learned could forge a path forward for peace in the Middle East.