The Executive Director and Development Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) describe NCLR's growth over the past 23 years in the context of lesbian feminist activism and increasing philanthropy among lesbians. NCLR's activist lawyering on family, youth, immigration and elder law issues is radical work that is transforming the lives of ordinary lesbians, and which depends on the financial support of lesbians. The organization's earliest financial supporters were lawyers, who remain a core group of donors today. NCLR has grown as increasing numbers of lesbians grasp the personal connection between the organization's legal victories and the effect of discrimination in their own lives. NCLR has also built a professional fundraising infrastructure and major gifts program, which are key to its long-term institutional growth. In recent years the feminist philanthropy movement and NCLR's own donor activists have helped lesbians express their activism by giving back to their community through charitable contributions to lesbian organizations,Including NCLR. NCLR will continue to advance lesbian civil rights by maintaining strong relationships with current donors and finding creative ways to meet its greatest fundraising challenge: how to reach the vast majority of lesbians who are quietly living their lives and are not part of any organization.

This article chronicles the issuance of marriage licenses to lesbian and gay couples in San Francisco in the winter of 2004. The article explores the political and legal landscape in the fight for the right to marry nationally and examines the current legal status of lesbian and gay couples in the country.

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