With a few weeks left of his presidency, Joe Biden has awarded individuals who have made their lives about contributing to American society and the world at large with the Presidential Citizens Medal and the Medal of Freedom.
In the ceremony held on January 2, among the group of recipients, Biden honored LGBTQ+ activists Evan Wolfson and Mary L. Bonauto with the Citizens Medal. Speaking to the crowd that day, Biden said of the winners of the Citizens award, “Together, you embody the central truth: We’re a great nation because we’re a good people. Our democracy begins and ends with the duties of citizenship. That’s our work for the ages, and it’s what all of you embody.”
Wolfson and Bonauto’s inclusion in the 2025 ceremony is preceded by their collective work in advancing marriage equality in the United States. Their work individually and together culminated in the 2015 Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which ruled that same-sex marriages are a constitutional right.
Bonauto, the senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), argued the Obergefell case before the Supreme Court. However, even that victory was in line with her collective work in securing marriage rights in multiple north-eastern states, including Vermont, Connecticut, and Maine, before taking on the 2015 landmark court case.
“Her efforts made millions of families whole and forged a more perfect Union,” the White House offered in a statement.
Wolfson, the founder of Freedom to Marry (FTM), has been an advocate for same-sex marriage for decades, from his time working as a part of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a gay rights advocacy non-profit, to starting his own in 2001. Through his organization, Wolfson and his team led marriage equality work in almost every state, working from the ballot up to partners in the legislative realm.
At the time of forming FTM, Wolfson gave a rousing vision of it and the work to be done. “I’m not in this just to change the law,” he expressed, “It’s about changing society. I want gay kids to grow up believing that they can get married, that they can join the Scouts, that they can choose the life they want to live.”
At the January ceremony, Wolfson gave thanks for the collective efforts of the marriage equality movement. “This medal is a tribute to the transformative, democratic work we all did together, and to the power of hope, strategy, determination, and love,” he said of the award. “I’m honored to see the profoundly positive impact that the freedom to marry has had for so many families across the country, and for the LGBTQ community and American people as a whole.”
Bonauto echoed his sentiments, painting a broader picture as to the significance of the award. “It is an astonishing honor to receive this recognition, and to be in the company of other incredible individuals who have had such a significant impact on the lives of Americans,” she said. “The Presidential Citizens Medal represents something fundamental: that we each have a role to play in fulfilling our country’s promises of equality, dignity, and freedom. I stand alongside so many courageous individuals who fought for the right to marry, and others across our nation who share a deep desire that all of our community members be treated with fairness and dignity. This recognition today is a testament to the profoundly positive impact marriage equality has had on individuals, families, and communities across our country.”
Two days later, on January 4, Tim Gill, an American computer software programmer as well as LGBTQ rights activist, was one of 19 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Gill, much like Wolfson and Bonauto, has been involved in several decades worth of LGBTQ activism, starting from his time at the University of Colorado at Boulder, volunteering for the campus gay-liberation group and giving support for local HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns. Gill was also involved in LGBTQ political response to 1992’s Colorado Amendment 2, which prevented non-discrimination ordinances in the state from protecting people based on sexual orientation, which in turn was struck down as unconstitutional during the 1996 Supreme Court case, Romer v. Evans.
From his formation of the Gill Foundation alongside his husband, Scott Miller, in 1994, to establishing the Gill Action Fund in 2005, Gill has been credited through these organizations as a visionary strategist and mega-donor for making significant contributions to many LGBTQ rights initiatives over the years.
As well as having a hand in helping back the work through funding in 2015’s Obergefell v Hodges, in North Carolina, he also helped fund Governor Roy Cooper’s campaign in 2016, aiming to push Republican Gov. Pat McCrory out after his support toward and passing of the anti-LGBTQ HB2 “bathroom bill”. Of his contributions, the White House said in a statement that Gill “is a visionary entrepreneur whose work has advanced LGBTQI rights and equality.” It continued, “After transforming the publishing industry through groundbreaking software, he leveraged his success to secure key victories in the fight for marriage equality and anti-discrimination protections.”
President Biden also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who has long been an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. She served as first lady to President Bill Clinton (1993-2001), a Senator representing New York (2001-2009) and as the Secretary of State (2009-2013).