Welcome back to bootability. Before we jump in today, a quick note that we're airing a rerun this week of one of our most popular episodes from June 2021 with lawyer Dan Foley called Love Wins, a Buddhist lawyer and the Fight for Marriage Equality. We'll be back next week with a new episode. Welcome back to bootability, a weekly

interview series about the amazing ability people have to change our lives and the world

if we're brave enough to tap into it.

I'm your host, Jih Jolly.

Throughout this month, we've been highlighting stories and perspectives to celebrate Pride Month,

and today's episode concludes that coverage with the incredible

story of a Buddhist lawyer and the fight for marriage equality.

First, some context.

Six years ago today, on June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court ratified same-sex

marriage, a monumental achievement after a more than 25-year battle across the country.

Recently, journalist Sasha Eisenberg published a riveting, comprehensive history of that struggle,

titled The Engagement, America's Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage.

He traces it back to 1990, when the political

movement took off with a case that eventually made it to the Hawaii Supreme Court.

At that point, Eisenberg explains, no significant gay rights group had endorsed marriage as an objective.

But in 1990, when three same-sex couples applied for marriage licenses in

Honolulu, they were denied, and they turned to a lawyer named Dan Foley. Less than three years

later, the Hawaii Supreme Court became the first court in the world to conclude that

queer couples' freedom to marry was a basic civil right.

The rest is a fascinating and groundbreaking history of the national journey towards June 26, 2015.

Reading Eisenberg's book, I was surprised to learn that Dan Foley practices SGI Nietzschean

Buddhism, and his practice is chronicled in some detail along his

...