Evan Wolfson—LGBT activist, attorney, author and founder and president of the now defunct Freedom to Marry group—delivered his first-ever commencement address to Northeastern Illinois University's ( NEIU ) 2016 graduating class May 9 at UIC Pavilion.
NEIU President Sharon Hahs presented Wolfson with his first honorary doctorate degree—Doctor of Humane Letters—ahead of his address. She also spoke to the graduates about having integrity in everything they do, embracing lifelong learning with an open mind and being good citizens/giving back to society.
In a conference call ahead of his address, Wolfson said he was surprised at the invitation and "honored and delighted to have the opportunity both to celebrate the achievements of the students and learn about and laud the school as well as talk about where we are now as a country and the work we still need to do together."
Wolfson's address wove the experience of LGBT people into the larger framework of social justice activism and the American dream.
"Even as recently as five years ago, let alone in the years in which you all were born, the idea that a gay activist campaigning for the freedom to marry would be chosen by a state school in Illinois as its commencement speaker would have seemed inconceivable to most people," Wolfson said at the start of his address. "Within living memory, gay people in America were a despised and oppressed minority, discriminated against under the law, stigmatized by prejudice and stereotypes, marginal to those in power, forced into hiding, paying brutal life consequences of exclusion, indignity and disdain. Non-gay people were taught that gay people were alien others bearing the classic tropes of dehumanization: a menace to children, animalistic in behavior, immoral, ill and subversive."
Wolfson explained that it took the combination of the U.S. Constitution's human-rights guarantees, a decades-long movement, a successful strategy and a tenacious campaign by LGBT people and their allies to achieve marriage equality. He said the victory was a triumph of love over hate.
"Now some of you may be wondering what does this have to do with you and today's celebration of your hard work, your achievements, your future," said Wolfson. "Well, you, the class of 2016, are about to graduate, about to receive degrees, from a school ranked the most ethnically diverse regional public university in the Midwest.
"Northeastern Illinois University proudly proclaims as its mission: 'We prepare a diverse community of students for leadership and service in our region and in a dynamic multicultural world.' They're talking about you. Northeastern declares, 'More than a hundred countries are represented in our student body. Nearly 50 languages other than English are spoken as a first language by our students.' That's beautiful. When I hear that, when I look out at beautiful you today, I see our country. I see our country's hope for the future."
Wolfson noted that he's a gay, Jewish, New Yorker who loves Broadway—including Lin Manuel-Miranda's Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical, Hamilton.
"In Hamilton, a multiracial cast riffs on our nation's founding through multicultural music—the story of America then told by Americans now," said Wolfson. "'Immigrants. We get the job done,' the musical reminds us—and it begins the story of the immigrant Alexander Hamilton's life. 'Get your education,' Hamilton is told: 'Don't forget from whence you came and the world's gonna know your name.'
"The show celebrates America's history of immigration, of inventiveness, of self-improvement, of meritocratic rise, of e pluribus unum. It also invokes America's history of nasty political combat, of discrimination and division, of repression and racism, of suspicion and sexism, of imperfection. With all that imperfection, however, the United States belongs to all of us—immigrant and indigenous—regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity."
Wolfson explained that the American promise is something that requires work and even the most accomplished people—like those in Hamilton—have flaws and are sometimes undone by those flaws. He explained that it's important for everyone to not just have one's work but also family, friends and love.
"I don't have to tell you here today that gay and transgender people are not the only people in America to have faced discrimination, to endure prejudice," said Wolfson. "I don't have to tell you that immigrants built this country; that Black Lives Matter; that women should be in charge of their own bodies and lives, and should lead; that everyone should pay their fair share, and be able to vote; that each person should be free to pursue happiness; that we all should be judged not by our external attributes, but by the content of our character."
Wolfson ended his address by telling the graduates the country needs them and is waiting for their engagement, service and leadership—that they should take their shot because they've earned it.
