The Civil Marriage Trail Project was founded by Brendan Fay and Jesús Lebrón in August, 2003. The organization was started by the same-sex marriage activists who previously worked with the New York City organization Gay & Lesbian Advocates for Change and Marriage Equality NY, an organization Lebrón founded in 1998. Fay conceived the idea of the project after his legal marriage to Tom Moulton, Director of Hematology/Oncology at Bronx-Lebanon Medical Center. Fay and Moulton are New York state's first same-sex couple (and Fay the first Irish gay man) to obtain a marriage license. Their and other couples' Canadian marriages -- a number of them officiated by Toronto Justice Harvey Brownstone -- garnered local and national media interest, including coverage in People Magazine, NY Post and the New York Times. Fay has appeared on numerous other media outlets to discuss the impact of the Canadian decision and changes in legislation, including CBS, NBC, and various radio stations.
The Civil Marriage Trail Project assists same-sex couples in obtaining marriage licenses from other countries and states in the U.S. that have legalized same-sex marriage. It provides information, helping arrange civil ceremonies with officiates, including judges, clergy and elected officials, and generating media interest. Through it's aid to couples, the organization draws attention to the issue of same-sex marriage rights, conveying to the public the social, economic, emotional and political ramifications of civil same-sex marriages.
The Civil Marriage Trail began with a September 16, 2003 Town Hall meeting and included start-up assistance by Jan Thompson, a longtime Marriage Equality NY activist. In it's early years the organization's focus was on crossing the border to Canada where no residency requirement exists for obtaining marriage licenses. The organization's initial trip became an international media story on Valentine's Day weekend, 2004. Couples have since traveled with the Civil Marriage Trail Project to Massachusetts (2004), Connecticut (2009) and New York (2011, 2013).
Fay and the Civil Marriage Trail Project are credited with inspiring the personal and political journey of Edie Windsor, the plaintiff in the landmark case United States v. Windsor. In 2007, Windsor and her partner of 40 years, Thea Spyer, traveled with the Civil Marriage Trail Project to Toronto to legally marry. Fay and Ed DeBonis (who also married his partner Vincent Maniscalco under the Civil MarriageTrail Project) aided Windsor in obtaining legal representation after Spyer died and Windsor learned of the $363,000 in federal estate taxes on her inheritance of her wife's estate.
