Harry Knox: Freedom to Marry Program Director | LawCrossing.com

Summary

The Harry Knox Program at Freedom to Marry helps propel the marriage equality movement forward by providing fellowship opportunities for leaders, training grassroots activists, and building public support for the cause. The program director of the Harry Knox Program is Ryan Davis, an experienced leader in the LGBT movement who brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm to the role.


The Harry Knox Program encompasses a wide range of efforts to support the shared mission of Freedom to Marry and its work to secure the freedom to marry nationwide. The program strengthens the existing marriage equality movement by providing leadership training, offering fellowships to emerging leaders, and connecting organizations, activists, and volunteers through collaboration. The program takes a holistic approach to the marriage equality movement, harnessing the power and resources of many diverse voices and individuals to create a strong and powerful network that will ultimately lead to marriage equality nationwide.

The Harry Knox Program identifies and provides support to emerging leaders who are committed to the movement and demonstrate the skills needed to bring the marriage equality movement to the next level. These fellows are chosen from a diverse pool of applicants and work in collaboration with Freedom to Marry's staff to develop their skills and expertise in order to become effective and successful campaigners for the marriage equality movement.

The Harry Knox Program also engages in direct campaigning and advocacy efforts, building widespread public support for the freedom to marry through online, radio, and print media. The program works to build public understanding of the issue and to create change in public opinion.

Additionally, the Harry Knox Program works with local and state-level organizations and activists to advance the marriage equality movement in their respective communities. The program offers guidance and training to grassroots activists and provides resources to help them plan and execute effective campaigns.

The marriage equality movement is gaining momentum and the work of the Harry Knox Program, under the leadership of Ryan Davis, is helping to propel the movement forward. The program provides vital resources and support to emerging leaders, creates awareness of the issue, and builds public support for the cause. The Harry Knox Program is at the forefront of the marriage equality movement, moving it toward its ultimate goal of nationwide marriage equality.
 

Harry Knox, Program Director of Freedom to Marry

Harry Knox is the Program Director of Freedom to Marry, a national, nonpartisan campaign to win marriage equality for all couples in all 50 states. He was previously the director of the Religion and Faith Program at the Human Rights Campaign. He has also worked with the United Methodist Church and several Presbyterian denominations to promote LGBT equality. Harry is a graduate of the Wake Forest University Divinity School.
 

Knox's Contribution to the LGBT Movement

With his work in the Campaign, Knox has worked to galvanize public support for the Freedom to Marry. He has been working with different faith groups to educate them about marriage equality and its importance to the LGBT community. He has spoken around the United States about the importance of ending discrimination against same-sex couples and has played a vital role in winning marriage in multiple states. Knox is a champion for full LGBT equality and his work has been instrumental in helping advance the LGBT movement.
 

A Life Dedicated to the Movement

Knox is a passionate advocate for LGBT rights and freedom and has dedicated his life to the movement. He is an active member of St. John's MCC, an LGBT-affirming Christian Church and is a member of Lambda Literary. Knox is an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights, often speaking at events and conventions on behalf of the organization. He believes that all couples should have the right to marry and be able to express their love and commitment to each other in any state.
 

Advocating for Marriage Equality in the Supreme Court

Knox has been a key advocate in the fight for marriage equality, pushing for the passage of the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that made marriage equality the law of the land. He has continued to advocate for marriage equality and other LGBT rights at the state and local levels as well. Knox has been an outspoken voice for the LGBT community and his work has been invaluable to the movement.

<<Harry Knox works for an attorney, but his job is anything but traditional legal work. As program director of Freedom to Marry, a gay-rights advocacy group, Knox is known for his grassroots fundraising skills and for understanding how to press state and local governments to create gay-inclusive legislation.

Knox knew he wanted to be a lawyer or a minister. He was raised a Methodist and had always been active in the church. Ultimately, he decided his calling was the Lord, not the law. After earning a degree in political science from the University of Georgia, he received a Master of Divinity degree from Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, hoping for a career as a minister in the United Church of Christ.

But he was not ordained because he was gay.

That rejection made Knox an activist, and he vowed to fight for the rights of gays.

Knox believes attorney Evan Wolfson (to be profiled by LawCrossing next week) asked him to come work for Freedom to Marry because of his success in getting major companies in Georgia to provide domestic-partner benefits to same-sex couples. As executive director of Georgia Equality, Knox was instrumental in creating the Georgia Anti-Terrorism Act, a hate-crime law.

"The name is interesting. The law pre-dated September11, 2001, and really got at the heart of what terrorism is about, and that is seeking to control large groups of people through terror," Knox told LawCrossing. "And we were successful, within a couple of years, of getting Atlanta Gas Light Company, Bell South, Delta Airlines, Cingular Wireless, and other companies—the Coca-Cola company was the largest of them—to offer domestic-partner benefits.

Domestic-partner benefits became a standard in the state after that, he says, "because pretty much, as Coca-Cola and Bell South go, so goes the rest of the state of Georgia." Knox joined Freedom to Marry when it started in January, 2003 and along with Wolfson and other staff members, has been at the forefront of the battle for legal rights for same-sex couples.

"My route in [to the gay-rights movement] was as an advocate for civil-rights protection, but primarily from a legislative standpoint to begin with," he said. "And I think that's why Evan wanted me to come and work here, because I had a background in having done that and done it at the state level."

While his career has been about litigation, Freedom to Marry is not a litigation group. "Our role organizationally is to be a catalyst for the Freedom to Marry movement around the country and to help to resource all of the groups and individuals that are working on the issue," he said.

Knox's job involves helping political activists and litigation groups to communicate, train their staff to educate their communities, and connect people in the movement from different states. He says his day-to-day job includes "things as mundane as basic fundraising, non-profit organizational management—up to the more sublime things like strategic planning around the marriage issue."

He studies cases in various states and "things that can be treated as case studies that can be replicated around the country in various ways" to help gay partners receive equal rights under the law. Same-sex couples that live together like married couples are not granted the same legal rights as heterosexual couples on things as small as car insurance discounts for married couples to rights to receive social security or inheritance after a same-sex partner dies.

Knox says each day of his job is different because the organization has been in the national spotlight, and groups across the country look to Freedom to Marry for leadership.

"We have had a heck of a ride in a little less than two years," he said. "Evan's been at this for more than 20 years. Long before any of the rest of us got on board, he was a voice in the wilderness on this issue. So in a very real sense all of the rest of us are Johnny-Come-Latelys to this."

Knox works with litigation groups like the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Legal and Gay and Lesbian Advocates, Defenders in New England, and others.

"It's a lot of fun because the work is very dynamic, never the same from one day to the next, and always interesting," he said. "And our work is multifaceted. Our colleagues are taking different and state-appropriate directions in trying to achieve marriage equality." Knox says the Freedom to Marry movement has different strategies in each state, depending on how the population feels about gay marriage.

"Some of the states are taking solely legislative tacks and others are taking litigation strategies and others are doing a combination of the two," he said. "And in a lot of the other places where we're not likely to be successful in that particular state in the very near future, people are doing full-scale public relations campaigns."

He says education is crucial in every state, because many people aren't familiar with the gay and lesbian communities in their neighborhoods and of how discrimination impacts gays. The variety of strategies—legislation, public relations, fundraising, and national planning—drives Knox.

"It really keeps things diverse and dynamic and fun around here," he said.

Although he is still active in the Church, Knox no longer plans to become a minister - particularly because he has had to switch denominations each time he moves to whichever local church is gay-friendly. The church that denied his ordination in the 1980s later ordained three lesbians, and Knox feels like he helped pave the way for those women and other members of the gay and lesbian community. He says of all his achievements, he is proudest of receiving the Cordle Award for the promotion of God's diversity, given to him by the members of St. Mark United Methodist Church in Atlanta.