I received the press release below and I’m thrilled to report that Evan Wolfson, the man credited with winning marriage equality will be honored by Pittsburgh City Council.

Early on,Wolfson developed  a master plan for winning marriage equality then set about making it happen. This plan in addition to Wolfson’s tireless energy was fundamental to the win, in addition to the timing.

Thanks to Dan Gilman for honoring this fine man.

Pittsburgh, PA— This morning, at 10am in City Council Chambers, Councilman Dan Gilman will introduce a proclamation honoring Squirrel Hill native Evan Wolfson, Founder and President of the Freedom to Marry, one of the lead legal and political organizations in the fight for marriage equality.

In 1983, long before almost anyone in the gay community was talking about same-sex marriage, Wolfson wrote his Harvard Law School thesis on the freedom to marry.

From 1989 until 2001, Wolfson worked at the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, directing their Marriage Project and coordinating the National Freedom to Marry Coalition, the forerunner to Freedom to Marry. Wolfson worked on the Vermont Supreme Court case that led to the creation of civil unions in Vermont, and called the unions a “wonderful step forward,” but not enough. In April of 2000, Wolfson argued in front of the Supreme Court in the landmark case Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, in which the Court ruled that the Boy Scouts organization had the right to expel Dale for revealing that he was g ay. Wolfson was not deterred.

“Growing up with a loving community in the warm and welcoming Pittsburgh community, I always believed that we could all dream of love and inclusion, and America delivered on that promise when we won the freedom to marry this year,” said Wolfson. “And as we build on the marriage win to secure needed state and federal legislation against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations such as stores and restaurants, I am proud that Pittsburgh is again setting a good example for the kind of progress we need to see in Harrisburg and Washington.”

In 2003 Time Magazine described Wolfson as symbolic of the gay rights movement. In his book Why Marriage Matters, Wolfson called marriage “a relationship of emotional and financial interdependence between two people who make a public commitment.” In 2004, Time included Wolfson on its list of the “100 most influential people in the world.” In 2012, Wolfson received the Barnard Medal of Distinction alongside President Barack Obama.

“This past summer, more than 20 years after Evan Wolfson began the same-sex marriage movement, the Supreme Court declared that freedom to marry legal for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation. It is an unbelievable honor to bring Evan here, back to his hometown, and honor him for dedicating his entire career to assuring that everyone is assured the same basic fundamental rights and protections under the law,” said Councilman Gilman, who continued: “Thanks in large part to Pittsburgh’s own Evan Wolfson, the LGBTQ community can now celebrate their love as equal members by celebrating the rights and responsibilities of marriage.