In case you missed it: "The Advocate's Person of the Year: Pope Francis"
While 2013 will be remembered for the work of hundreds in advancing marriage equality, it will also be remembered for the example of one man.
BY Lucas Grindley
December 16 2013 2:23 PM ET
PERSON OF THE YEAR: POPE FRANCIS
When deciding who was the single most influential person of 2013 on the lives of LGBT people, there are obvious choices. At least, they seem so at first.
While Edie Windsor, for example, is among the list of finalists, she is not Person of the Year. Windsor is a hero to LGBT Americans for taking the final punch in the fight against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, and section 3 is no more. When she stepped out from the Supreme Court hearing, applause erupted. At the Out 100 awards, where she was given an award for Lifetime Achievement, chants of "Edie! Edie!" greeted her on stage. On the magazine's November cover, she beamed while holding a white dove — a symbol.
But even Windsor herself is a powerful symbol for the many others behind the scenes. Also at the Supreme Court that day, for example, were the four plaintiffs in the related Proposition 8 case from California, and they should be lauded. Or, any of their lawyers. There's the straight team of David Boies and Ted Olson, who frequently became the public champions for marriage equality's advance through the justice system via television interviews and in news reports. Then there's attorney Roberta Kaplan, one of us, who eloquently refuted Chief Justice John Roberts when he suggested times have changed and LGBT people are no longer an oppressed minority.
It doesn't stop there. A handful of other cases could have gone to the Supreme Court this year and weren't chosen. There are plaintiffs and lawyers in all of those. They come from states ranging from Michigan to Massachusetts. Oftentimes backing the cases are the resources of LGBT rights organizations such as Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders or Lambda Legal, or more mainstream allies such as the American Civil Liberties Union. Hundreds of people work at those organizations and have been fighting the Defense of Marriage Act in court — for years. Take, for example, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, which was first filed in 2009 and originally represented 19 people.
http://www.advocate.com/year-review/2013/12/16/advocates-person-year-pope-francis