A documentary about key players in the
marriage equality fight started streaming Friday on Netflix.
The Freedom to Marry has played
at dozens of film festivals and won 10 “Best Documentary” prizes.
Reviews – from The Boston Globe to Variety – have
been positive.
Director Eddie Rosenstein's film
largely focuses on Evan Wolfson, the founder and president of Freedom
to Marry, which for 14 years worked to establish equal marriage
rights for gay and lesbian couples in the United States. Wolfson was
unique in that he refused to compromise on marriage, saying that
other forms of recognition such as civil unions or domestic
partnerships create “a stigma of exclusion.”
During that the time, Wolfson, an
attorney, became the face of the marriage movement – writing books,
appearing at debates and making television appearances. In 2004,
TIME included Wolfson on its list of the “100 most
influential people in the world.”
Under Wolfson's leadership, Freedom to
Marry supported civil rights attorney Mary Bonauto as she argued the
Supreme Court case that struck down state marriage bans in 2015. The
film follows Wolfson and National Campaign Director Marc Solomon as
they crisscross the United States ahead of the high court's final
ruling.