Abby Rubenfeld (’79) to Receive Stonewall Award from the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
The Stonewall Award is presented annually to honor those who have contributed significantly to the fight for equality.
The victory of marriage equality in US Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges is owed in large part to the perseverance of Abby Rubenfeld, who has been a tireless advocate for gay rights since graduating from Boston University School of Law in 1979. In recognition of her dedication to social justice, Rubenfeld will be honored with the 2016 Stonewall Award at the American Bar Association Midyear Meeting in San Diego, California, on February 6, 2016.
The namesake for the award comes from the Stonewall Inn riot of 1969, which propelled the gay rights movement into the forefront of the American political sphere. The ABA Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity uses this award to “recognize those lawyers, members of the judiciary and legal academia who have effected real change to remove barriers on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression in the legal profession and the world, nation, state and/or locale, and to recognize those who have championed diversity for the LGBT community, both within the legal profession and impacting the greater human universe.”
Rubenfeld has enacted positive change by helping to make the goal of marriage equality a tangible reality. She acted as co-counsel for several plaintiffs in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court case that granted same-sex couples the right to marry. “I was honored and thrilled to be able to work on one of the marriage equality cases that went to the Supreme Court,” she says. “I was part of an incredible team of attorneys and plaintiffs—it was a pleasure to work with and make history with all of them. Getting to help win a major civil rights case is why I went to law school—our wonderful constitution needs to be applied equally to all, and I believe it is our obligation and privilege as attorneys to make that happen.”
Rubenfeld previously played a role in major policy change when she helped overturn Tennessee’s sodomy law in 1996. She has made an impact on the LGBT community and beyond by serving as a professor of Orientation and the Law at Vanderbilt Law School, chair of the ABA’s Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, legal director of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., and as a member of the board of directors for both the Human Rights Campaign and the ACLU of Tennessee.
Rubenfeld was previously recognized for her strides towards equality when she received the Bill of Rights Award from the ACLU of Tennessee, and the Dan Bradley Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association. She currently practices law at her office in Nashville, where she focuses on family law, sexual orientation, and AIDS-related issues.