Evan Wolfson, the founder of Freedom to
Marry and considered by many to be the father of the same-sex
marriage movement, responded on Friday to Donald Trump's election.
President-elect Trump and his running
mate, Mike Pence, oppose marriage equality. As governor of Indiana,
Pence defended the state's marriage ban in court.
Trump is also cozy with many Christian
conservative leaders who worked to keep state marriage bans in place.
Some of those leaders are helping Trump to shape his cabinet.
In an email published Friday on the
Freedom to Marry website, Wolfson called the election “a
catastrophe” that puts “much of what we all care about and have
worked for, our country, and even the world” in “real danger.”
“Right now, many same-sex couples
fear what the Trump administration may mean for their families, so
let me state categorically: The freedom to marry is the law of the
land – and no one will take that away from us,” Wolfson wrote.
“No act of Congress or presidential
fiat – even if they wanted to – could overturn the Supreme Court
ruling that affirmed the freedom to marry nationwide. Supreme Court
justices do not lightly overturn precedents, and it is even very
unlikely for the question to come before the Court; courts don't just
issue opinions, they rule on cases properly brought.”
“And, of course, we won in the courts
of law because we won first, through hard work and engagement, in the
court of public opinion. A super-majority of Americans support the
freedom to marry. That has not changed.”
“This doesn't mean we need not be
vigilant, or can retreat into complacency,” Wolfson added.