Dennis Johnson was sitting in his Des Moines office in 2003 when he got a call from Lambda Legal, asking him to represent six same-sex couples in challenging Iowa’s gay marriage prohibition. A litigation partner at Dorsey & Whitney at the time he’s now of counsel and a former solicitor general of Iowa, Johnson says the call came “out of the blue; I was surprised.” Not only was gay marriage not on his radar screen “I had no prior experience with gay rights or any activist movement,” he says, Johnson’s pro bono history had been “nothing big-I had not handled any pro bono lawsuit.”
Two days later, after consulting with his partners, Johnson signed on as the pro bono counsel in Varnum v. Brien. What started as just another legal matter on Johnson’s plate ended up being the case of his lifetime and a watershed moment for the gay rights movement. This spring, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned a state law that limited marriage to a man and a woman. As a result, gay rights activists nationwide hope that similar restrictions in other states will eventually fall.
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