If there has been a single intellectual engine driving the shift in attitudes and laws regarding sexual orientation, it is arguably the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. As it celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, the California think tank has grown into the 'Brookings Institution' of the gay rights movement.

"Objectivity is our modus operandi, the source of our credibility," said Brad Sears, the institute's executive director. "Being at an academic institution, connected to a law school and working with faculty from a wide range of disciplines, our research meets the standards of the academy. No matter how a piece of research comes out, that's how it comes out."