Geoff Kors

Geoff Kors

Geoff Kors has a long and distinguished record of service to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, starting in 1990 in San Francisco when he helped lead the nation's first successful campaign to pass a ballot measure to grant same-sex couples domestic partner rights. He also served as a partner in a LGBT civil rights law firm and prior to that, as Director of the ACLU of Illinois Gay and Lesbian Rights and AIDS and Civil Liberties projects. Most recently, Geoff served as Executive Director of Equality California from 2002 until 2011, building the largest and most successful statewide LGBT rights organization in the nation.

Under Geoff's leadership and strategic vision, California passed more than 70 pieces of LGBT rights legislation during his tenure at EQCA. In 2005, California became the first state to pass a marriage equality bill through both houses of its legislature. Geoff also played an active role in numerous lawsuits, including litigation preserving California's domestic partnership law and the lawsuit that resulted in same-sex couples briefly winning the freedom to Marry in California in 2008.

Geoff has received numerous awards from many organizations including: PFLAG; the Human Rights Campaign; the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club; MCC; Transgender Law Center; Los Angeles and Palm Springs Pride; and the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles. Geoff is a graduate of Union College and Stanford Law School.