Abby Rubenfeld

Abby Rubenfeld (born 1953) is an American civil rights attorney who practices in Nashville, Tennessee.[1]

Rubenfeld received an A.B. with honors from Princeton University, where she was class president, and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1979, where she helped create the Boston University Law Association.[1][2] She was admitted to practice law in 1979.[2]

She challenged Tennessee's "Homosexual Practices Acts" law, which criminalized sodomy. The sodomy law was overturned in 1996.[3] In 2013, she organized a group of attorneys and plaintiffs to challenge Tennessee's ban on same-sex marriage. She filed the lawsuit that led to Tennessee's inclusion in the U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage nationwide.[3]

She was an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law School and chair of the Individual Rights and Responsibilities section of the American Bar Association.[2][4][5][6] She has served as a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and the Human Rights Campaign.[2] She was an attorney and Legal Director of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.[4]

Rubenfeld is the daughter of Milton Rubenfeld and the sister of actor Paul Reubens. She is married, and has two daughters and a stepdaughter.[2]