The Godmother of Gay Marriage: Edie Wdsor's Passnate Life

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE AMERI AFTER WDSOR AND OBERGEFELL
• GAY MARRIAGE
• THE GODMOTHER OF GAY MARRIAGE: EDIE WDSOR'S PASSNATE LIFEFREEDOMAFTER HER PARTNER THEA SPYER DIED, EDIE WDSOR WAS LEFT WH A MASSIVE TATE TAX BILL, JT BEE THEY WERE GAY. HER VICTOR FIGHT HAS REDRAWN THE LGBT EQUALY MAP.JT JONUPDATED APR. 14, 2017 11:54AM EDT / PUBLISHED MAR. 18, 2015 5:15AM EDT ROBERT PTS /LANDOVTAKG ON THE UNED STAT SUPREME COURT IS NO EASY FEAT, YET 85-YEAR-OLD EDH WDSOR, WHO GO BY EDIE, DID JT THAT. SHE MA HISTORY 2010 AFTER CHALLENGG THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT (DOMA), WHICH BANNED THE FERAL REGNN OF SAME-SEX MARRIAG AND THE BENEFS THEY WERE ENTLED TO.WHEN THE STATUTE WAS OVERTURNED 2013, WAS AN UNPRECENTED LG THAT SENT JOYO SHOCKWAV THROUGHOUT THE GAY MUNY AND THE RT OF THE UNED STAT. SCE DOMA’S ABOLN, 37 STAT NOW REGNIZE AND PROTECT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.I MET WDSOR FOR THE FIRST TIME AT HER APARTMENT JT OFF MANHATTAN’S WASHGTON SQUARE PARK—THE SAME APARTMENT SHE ONCE SHARED WH HER WIFE, THEA SPYER, WHO’S PASSG 2009 FORCED WDSOR TO IGNE HER LAWSU AGAST THE FERAL ERNMENT. WDSOR WAS LEFT WH A $363,053 TATE TAX BEE THEIR MARRIAGE WAS NOT VALID THE EY OF THE FERAL ERNMENT, EVEN THOUGH WAS LEGAL THE STATE OF NEW YORK.WHEREVER SHE GO, SHE’S UALLY REGNIZED. “I GET STOPPED ON THE STREET ALL THE TIME,” WDSOR TOLD ME OVER FFEE ON A OSTY WTER MORNG, “AND A LOT OF PEOPLE JT WANTG TO SAY, ‘THANK YOU.’” IN ADDN TO RECEIVG AN HONORARY DOCTORATE OM JOHN HOPKS UNIVERSY, SHE WAS NO. 3 ON TIME MAGAZE’S 2014 “PERSON OF THE YEAR” LIST, BEHD THE POPE (#1) AND EDWARD SNOWN (#2). THE SAME YEAR, OUT MAGAZE HONORED HER WH A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AND THE NEW YORK LGBT CENTER DITED THEIR GURAL COMMUNY TRAILBLAZER AWARD TO HER AND HER LATE WIFE.BUT TWO YEARS LATER, WDSOR’S SCHLE IS STILL NON-STOP. SPEECH, TERVIEWS, AND AWARD CEREMONI FILL MOST OF HER DAY-TO-DAY LIFE, REACHG THE POT WHERE SHE HAS TO BLOCK OUT AN ENTIRE WEEK TO GET PERSONAL CHOR OUT OF THE WAY AND MAKE TIME TO OPEN HER MAIL, WHICH UALLY VOLV GIFTS AND LETTERS SENT OM NEWLYWEDS AND NEWLY OUT PEOPLE SHOWG THEIR THANKS AND APPRECIATN. SHE RECEIV SOME 20 A WEEK.SHE’S A SOPHISTITED WOMAN—WARM AND IENDLY, BUT WH A B OF SASS. DRSED SHARP, TAILORED CLOTHG AND A MEGA-WATT SE, SHE’S NFINT WHEN SHE PROCLAIMS THAT “50% OF THE POPULATN” IS GAY, AND FEISTY WHILE ASSERTG THAT SHE DON’T “HAVE ANY SYMPATHY FOR BISEXUALS,” BEE SHE THKS S “PHONY.”“HONEY, YOU’VE GOT TO BE LOUD AND PROUD,” SHE SHOUTS AS WE S DOWN TO TALK—NOT JT BEE SHE’S HAVG DIFFICULTY HEARG THE DAYS, BUT BEE THAT’S BEEN THE MOTTO CRY FOR OUR MUNY SCE THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT AROSE WH FURY AFTER THE 1969 STONEWALL RTS AND THE AIDS EPIMIC.***WDSOR’S SENSE OF JTICE, SHE TELLS ME, OM BEG THE YOUNGT OF THREE SIBLGS. HER BROTHER AND SISTER WERE FOUR YEARS AND 11 YEARS HER SENR, RPECTIVELY. “I WAS THE BABY, SO I GOT BLAMED FOR A LOT OF STUFF,” SHE SAID. “SO SERVED ME VERY WELL WHEN ALL OF THIS HAPPENED.”THE THREE GREW UP A MIDDLE-CLASS FAY. HER PARENTS OWNED A NDY SHOP AND ICE CREAM PARLOR, WHICH THE FAY LIVED ABOVE. BUT WHEN WDSOR WAS 2 YEARS OLD, SHE AND HER BROTHER WERE STRICKEN WH POL AND THE STORE WAS SHUT DOWN AND QUARANTED. THE LAST BIG EPIMIC HAD H HER HOMETOWN OF PHILALPHIA AND SENT HER MOTHER “SCURRYG AROUND THE WORLD LOOKG FOR SEMS.” SHE SUCCEED AND BOTH HAD A FULL REVERY.HOWEVER, THE MEDIL BILLS PUT FANCIAL STRS ON THE FAY AND FORCED HER FATHER TO BORROW MONEY OM A FAY MEMBER WHO OWNED A PARTMENT STORE. IN TURN, HER FATHER BEME AN EMPLOYEE FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, WORKG TO PAY BACK. “I REMEMBER WAS LIKE A FAY TRAGEDY. WE ALL TALKED ABOUT AND OFFERED TO HELP PAY BACK.”BY THE TIME WDSOR WENT TO LLEGE WAS WORLD WAR II. HER FAY HAD MOVED TO AN UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD AND WDSOR BEGAN ATTENDG A LOL MUNY LLEGE, THEN TEMPLE UNIVERSY. IT WAS THERE SHE HAD HER FIRST SER LOVE AFFAIR WH A WOMAN. SHE WAS AT A LLEGE PARTY AND THE HOSTS WALKED UP TO HER AND ASKED IF SHE HAD “HOMOSEXUAL RELATNS.”“I PULLED MYSELF TOGETHER AND SAID, ‘ON OCSN.’ THEN, SHE TRODUCED ME TO SOME PEOPLE FOR MY OCSNS AND I FELL EPLY LOVE.” IT FORCED EDIE TO TEMPORARILY BREAK OFF HER ENGAGEMENT WH THE MAN SHE EVENTUALLY MARRIED—A MAN SHE SCRIBED AS “A GLOR GUY. ANY STRAIGHT WOMAN WOULD HAVE FALLEN LOVE WH HIM. HE WAS BIG AND HANDSOME AND SMART AND KNEW A LOT ABOUT JAZZ.”SHE SAYS, “IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE THEN. THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT YOU KNEW WERE GAY WERE SOME OF THE EX-WAV—YOU KNOW, WOMEN WHO HAD BEEN THE ARMY WHO WERE VERY BUTCH,” SHE SAID. “IN THE NTEXT OF THE HOMOPHOBIA THAT WAS SO PREVALENT THE 1950S,” SHE WROTE AN AFFIDAV FOR THE DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, “I CERTALY DIDN’T WANT TO BE A ‘QUEER.’ INSTEAD, I WANTED A ‘NORMAL’ LIFE.”IT WASN’T UNTIL SHE DIVORCED HER HBAND AND MOVED TO NEW YORK THE EARLY 1950S THAT WDSOR ULD FULLY EXPLORE HER SEXUALY. SHE “TRAVELED WH SIX GAY GUYS FOR THE FIRST TWO YEARS” BEE SHE “DIDN’T KNOW WHERE THE LBIANS WERE.”THEN, 1963, SHE MET THEA SPYER, A PSYCHOLOGIST AND VLIST, AND SPARKED A ROMANCE THAT CHANGED BOTH HER LIFE AND, NOW, THE LIV OF GAY UPL THROUGHOUT THE UNED STAT. FOR YEARS, THEY KEPT THEIR RELATNSHIP MOSTLY SECRET. EDIE WAS NOT OUT TO -WORKERS AT HER HIGH-RANKG POSN AT IBM. SHE HAD ONLY REVEALED HER LOVE TO VERY CLOSE IENDS AFTER SPYER PROPOSED WH A DIAMOND BROOCH 1967.THEN, A REVOLUTN HAPPENED. A POLICE RAID AT THE DOWNTOWN GAY BAR, STONEWALL INN, RULTED A STRG OF VLENT RTS BY S PATRONS AND BEME ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT.“SIXTY YEARS AGO I SAID I DON’T SEE WHY I HAD TO BE INTIFIED WH THOSE QUEENS,” WDSOR SAID, REFERENCG THE MANY DRAG QUEENS THAT HUNG OUT ON CHRISTOPHER STREET AND STONEWALL WHO, AT THAT TIME, MANY GAYS AND LBIANS HATED BEG ASSOCIATED WH. “AND THEN THOSE QUEENS OVERTURNED A POLICE R” DURG THE RT “AND CHANGED MY LIFE.”IT WAS THEN THAT THE MUNY BEGAN G TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER.“UNTIL THEN, AND, FACT, UNTIL THE AIDS CRISIS, THERE WERE TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS. THERE WERE GAY MEN AND THERE WERE LBIANS. BUT WHAT HAPPENED WH THE AIDS CRISIS, THERE WAS NO REGNN OM THE POPULATN AND THEY LLED THE GAY DISEASE, THE GAY NCER, BUT THE WOMEN ME POURG TO HELP. SO WE ALL REALLY SAW EACH OTHER FOR THE FIRST TIME.”AFTER MORE THAN 40 YEARS TOGETHER, WDSOR AND SPYER WED CANADA 2007. SPYER HAD BEEN GIVEN A TERMAL DIAGNOSIS AFTER YEARS ALG WH PROGRSIVE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS. THEY KNEW THEIR TIME WAS LIMED AND GAY MARRIAGE WAS YET TO BE LEGALIZED NEW YORK.***NOW, HER VOLVEMENT ADVOTG FOR AND WH THE LGBT MUNY HAS CHANGED WDSOR’S LIFE.“THIS MUNY HAS MEANT THE WORLD TO ME,” SHE SAID. “IT FILLED MY LIFE AFTER THEA DIED AND I N’T TELL YOU THE EXTENT TO WHICH CHANGED HOW I ULD BE AND WHERE I WOULD BE LIFE. AND ’S WHAT GAVE ME THE GUTS TO DO THE URT SE.”AFTER SPYER PASSED AWAY 2009, WDSOR SUFFERED HER OWN HEART ATTACK. IT WAS A PROGNOSIS DOCTORS “CHARACTERIZED AS BROKEN HEART SYNDROME,” WDSOR SCRIBED.SOON AFTER, SHE WAS FACED WH A $363,053 TATE-TAX BILL ON THE PROPERTY SHE HERED OM HER LATE WIFE. IT WAS A TAX THAT HETEROSEXUAL SPO WERE ALREADY EXEMPT OM. YET, WDSOR, WHOSE MARRIAGE LEGALLY WAS REGNIZED BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK, WAS FORCED TO PAY. DOMA PREVENTED THE FERAL ERNMENT OM REGNIZG HER MARRIAGE.SO, 2010, SHE SUED WH THE HELP OF ROBERTA KAPLAN, A "BRILLIANT LIGATN PARTNER WH PL, WEISS, RIFKD, WHARTON & GARRISON" WHO HAS BEEN NAMED ONE OF THE "TOP 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS" THE UNED STAT AND ALSO HAPPENS TO BE A LBIAN. THE SU ARGUED THAT DOMA VLATED NSTUTNAL RIGHTS TO EQUAL PROTECTN. IN 2012, THE U.S. SEND CIRCU COURT OF APPEALS LED HER FAVOR.THE LGBT CENTER NEW YORK CY BEME HER BASE AS THE SU MOVED TO THE SUPREME COURT. EVERY DAY FOR THREE WEEKS, A CREW ASSEMBLED A RALLY STATN ANTICIPATN OF HER SE REACHG SCOTUS SO WDSOR WOULDN’T HAVE TO TRAVEL BACK AND FORTH TO WASHGTON, D.C. IF THE URT DIDN’T TAKE THAT DAY, THE STAFF WOULD BREAK EVERYTHG DOWN AND START OVER THE NEXT DAY.WDSOR’S VOLVEMENT WH THE CENTER DAT BACK TO S FOUNDG DAYS. SHE HAD A LARGE HAND SETTG UP THE ANIZATN’S FIRST PUTERIZED DATABASE AFTER OPENED S DOORS, AND ANIZED THE FIRST WOMEN’S DANCE AND SERVED ON THE BOARD OF SAGE (SERVICE & ADVOCY FOR GAY, LBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR ELRS), WHICH WAS FOUND AT THE CENTER.WHEN A CISN WAS FALLY REACHED ON JUNE 26, 2013, WDSOR WAS THERE TO HOLD HER PRS NFERENCE. THE CISN MEANT GAY UPL ACROSS THE UNTRY WERE ALLOWED TO FILE JOT TAX RETURNS, ACCS SOCIAL SECURY BENEFS, BEE EXEMPT OM HERANCE TAX, AND ALLOW FOREIGN SPO TO RECEIVE GREEN RDS.“AT FIRST I READ ALL OF THE BRIEFS, BUT AFTER THE FIRST NEGATIVE BRIEF OM THE OPPOSN I DIDN’T READ THEM ANYMORE,” WDSOR SAID, SEEMG TO DISTANCE HERSELF OM ANY NEGATIVE REACTNS OR OPNS OF HER SE.SHE’S TAKEN THAT APPROACH HER ENTIRE LIFE. “AT SOME POT I LOOKED ONLE AND THERE WERE MEAN MENTS,” SHE SAID. “BUT I JT DIDN’T KNOW THOSE KDS OF PEOPLE” MY SOCIAL LIFE. AND SHE DIDN’T WANT THEM THERE.NOW, ALMOST TWO YEARS AFTER SHE SUCCEED, WDSOR, WHO BELIEV HER CELEBRY STAT IS “JOYO BEE ’S FOR THE RIGHT REASONS,” KNOWS THAT THE FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS IS FAR BUT FISHED.“NOW THAT WE HAVE MARRIAGE, A LOT OF PEOPLE ASK WHY WE N’T JT BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. WHY DO WE STILL HAVE TO BE TALKG ABOUT A GAY CENTER OR A GAY THIS OR GAY THAT?” WDSOR SAYS. “I THK WE HAVE A LOT TO DO. A LOT. THERE ARE A LN THGS TO STILL BE DONE TO MAKE EQUAL,” WHICH IS WHY SHE HAS TURNED HER FOC TO TG HERSELF ON TRANS INTY AND AT-RISK YOUTH.“FIRST OF ALL, I HAVE A LOT OF FEELG FOR TRANS PEOPLE. THEY ARE MAKG GEO PROGRS, BUT ’S VERY PAFUL PROGRS. THEY ARE THE MOST PICKED ON EVERY WAY, BUT LUCKILY THEY HAVE A UPLE IMPORTANT CELEBRI,” LIKE LAVERNE COX.ANOTHER ISSUE WDSOR HAS TAKEN CLOSE TO HEART IS THE HUNDREDS OF THOANDS OF YOUTH THAT HAVE BEEN FORCED TO LIVE A LIFE ON THE STREET FOR G OUT TO THEIR FAI.“WE ALSO HAVE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 40 AND 50% OF KIDS LIVG ON THE STREET WHO ARE GAY. THIS IS A WHOLE CHUNK OF WHO ALSO TOOK THE URAGE TO E OUT BUT WERE THROWN OUT OF THEIR HOM AND FORCED TO LIVE THE STREET. AND UNTIL THE ERNMENT TAK OVER, WE HAVE TO BE RPONSIBLE FOR THAT.”WHILE SHE MAK SURE TO ADVOTE FOR THE ISSU AT ALMOST EVERY SPEECH SHE GIV AND PROMIS THAT “THEY N UNT ON ANYTHG THEY WANT” OM HER, WDSOR HAS ATTEMPTED A QUIETER LIFE FOR HERSELF. THIS YEAR, SHE IS ATTEMPTG TO ONLY HAVE ONE OBLIGATN A MONTH, THOUGH SHE’S ALREADY BROKEN THAT LE A HANDFUL OF TIM. BUT, SHE KNOWS ’S WORTH .“CHILDREN BORN TODAY WILL GROW UP A WORLD WHOUT DOMA,” WDSOR TOLD A ROOM FULL OF REPORTERS AFTER LEARNG OF THE SUPREME COURT CISN. “AND THOSE SAME CHILDREN WHO HAPPEN TO BE GAY WILL BE EE TO LOVE AND GET MARRIED—AS THEA AND I DID—BUT WH THE SAME FERAL BENEFS, PROTECTNS, AND DIGNY AS EVERYONE ELSE. IF I HAD TO SURVIVE THEA, WHAT A GLOR WAY TO DO , AND SHE WOULD BE SO PLEASED.” JT JON
• THE REMARRIAGE OF EDIE WDSOR, A GAY MARRIAGE PNEER

GAY MARRIAGE AMERI AFTER WDSOR AND OBERGEFELL

Further plitg the matter, many sample-based timat not only lack statistil power to measure wh precisn the number or characteristics of smaller populatns, such as the populatn of same-sex upl or gay and lbian dividuals, but also clu measurement errors that pos particular challeng intifyg same-sex upl amidst the much larger populatn of different-sex upl. Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups.

Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years. In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners.

GAY MARRIAGE

C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch. Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs.

THE GODMOTHER OF GAY MARRIAGE: EDIE WDSOR'S PASSNATE LIFEFREEDOMAFTER HER PARTNER THEA SPYER DIED, EDIE WDSOR WAS LEFT WH A MASSIVE TATE TAX BILL, JT BEE THEY WERE GAY. HER VICTOR FIGHT HAS REDRAWN THE LGBT EQUALY MAP.JT JONUPDATED APR. 14, 2017 11:54AM EDT / PUBLISHED MAR. 18, 2015 5:15AM EDT ROBERT PTS /LANDOVTAKG ON THE UNED STAT SUPREME COURT IS NO EASY FEAT, YET 85-YEAR-OLD EDH WDSOR, WHO GO BY EDIE, DID JT THAT. SHE MA HISTORY 2010 AFTER CHALLENGG THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT (DOMA), WHICH BANNED THE FERAL REGNN OF SAME-SEX MARRIAG AND THE BENEFS THEY WERE ENTLED TO.WHEN THE STATUTE WAS OVERTURNED 2013, WAS AN UNPRECENTED LG THAT SENT JOYO SHOCKWAV THROUGHOUT THE GAY MUNY AND THE RT OF THE UNED STAT. SCE DOMA’S ABOLN, 37 STAT NOW REGNIZE AND PROTECT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.I MET WDSOR FOR THE FIRST TIME AT HER APARTMENT JT OFF MANHATTAN’S WASHGTON SQUARE PARK—THE SAME APARTMENT SHE ONCE SHARED WH HER WIFE, THEA SPYER, WHO’S PASSG 2009 FORCED WDSOR TO IGNE HER LAWSU AGAST THE FERAL ERNMENT. WDSOR WAS LEFT WH A $363,053 TATE TAX BEE THEIR MARRIAGE WAS NOT VALID THE EY OF THE FERAL ERNMENT, EVEN THOUGH WAS LEGAL THE STATE OF NEW YORK.WHEREVER SHE GO, SHE’S UALLY REGNIZED. “I GET STOPPED ON THE STREET ALL THE TIME,” WDSOR TOLD ME OVER FFEE ON A OSTY WTER MORNG, “AND A LOT OF PEOPLE JT WANTG TO SAY, ‘THANK YOU.’” IN ADDN TO RECEIVG AN HONORARY DOCTORATE OM JOHN HOPKS UNIVERSY, SHE WAS NO. 3 ON TIME MAGAZE’S 2014 “PERSON OF THE YEAR” LIST, BEHD THE POPE (#1) AND EDWARD SNOWN (#2). THE SAME YEAR, OUT MAGAZE HONORED HER WH A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AND THE NEW YORK LGBT CENTER DITED THEIR GURAL COMMUNY TRAILBLAZER AWARD TO HER AND HER LATE WIFE.BUT TWO YEARS LATER, WDSOR’S SCHLE IS STILL NON-STOP. SPEECH, TERVIEWS, AND AWARD CEREMONI FILL MOST OF HER DAY-TO-DAY LIFE, REACHG THE POT WHERE SHE HAS TO BLOCK OUT AN ENTIRE WEEK TO GET PERSONAL CHOR OUT OF THE WAY AND MAKE TIME TO OPEN HER MAIL, WHICH UALLY VOLV GIFTS AND LETTERS SENT OM NEWLYWEDS AND NEWLY OUT PEOPLE SHOWG THEIR THANKS AND APPRECIATN. SHE RECEIV SOME 20 A WEEK.SHE’S A SOPHISTITED WOMAN—WARM AND IENDLY, BUT WH A B OF SASS. DRSED SHARP, TAILORED CLOTHG AND A MEGA-WATT SE, SHE’S NFINT WHEN SHE PROCLAIMS THAT “50% OF THE POPULATN” IS GAY, AND FEISTY WHILE ASSERTG THAT SHE DON’T “HAVE ANY SYMPATHY FOR BISEXUALS,” BEE SHE THKS S “PHONY.”“HONEY, YOU’VE GOT TO BE LOUD AND PROUD,” SHE SHOUTS AS WE S DOWN TO TALK—NOT JT BEE SHE’S HAVG DIFFICULTY HEARG THE DAYS, BUT BEE THAT’S BEEN THE MOTTO CRY FOR OUR MUNY SCE THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT AROSE WH FURY AFTER THE 1969 STONEWALL RTS AND THE AIDS EPIMIC.***WDSOR’S SENSE OF JTICE, SHE TELLS ME, OM BEG THE YOUNGT OF THREE SIBLGS. HER BROTHER AND SISTER WERE FOUR YEARS AND 11 YEARS HER SENR, RPECTIVELY. “I WAS THE BABY, SO I GOT BLAMED FOR A LOT OF STUFF,” SHE SAID. “SO SERVED ME VERY WELL WHEN ALL OF THIS HAPPENED.”THE THREE GREW UP A MIDDLE-CLASS FAY. HER PARENTS OWNED A NDY SHOP AND ICE CREAM PARLOR, WHICH THE FAY LIVED ABOVE. BUT WHEN WDSOR WAS 2 YEARS OLD, SHE AND HER BROTHER WERE STRICKEN WH POL AND THE STORE WAS SHUT DOWN AND QUARANTED. THE LAST BIG EPIMIC HAD H HER HOMETOWN OF PHILALPHIA AND SENT HER MOTHER “SCURRYG AROUND THE WORLD LOOKG FOR SEMS.” SHE SUCCEED AND BOTH HAD A FULL REVERY.HOWEVER, THE MEDIL BILLS PUT FANCIAL STRS ON THE FAY AND FORCED HER FATHER TO BORROW MONEY OM A FAY MEMBER WHO OWNED A PARTMENT STORE. IN TURN, HER FATHER BEME AN EMPLOYEE FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, WORKG TO PAY BACK. “I REMEMBER WAS LIKE A FAY TRAGEDY. WE ALL TALKED ABOUT AND OFFERED TO HELP PAY BACK.”BY THE TIME WDSOR WENT TO LLEGE WAS WORLD WAR II. HER FAY HAD MOVED TO AN UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD AND WDSOR BEGAN ATTENDG A LOL MUNY LLEGE, THEN TEMPLE UNIVERSY. IT WAS THERE SHE HAD HER FIRST SER LOVE AFFAIR WH A WOMAN. SHE WAS AT A LLEGE PARTY AND THE HOSTS WALKED UP TO HER AND ASKED IF SHE HAD “HOMOSEXUAL RELATNS.”“I PULLED MYSELF TOGETHER AND SAID, ‘ON OCSN.’ THEN, SHE TRODUCED ME TO SOME PEOPLE FOR MY OCSNS AND I FELL EPLY LOVE.” IT FORCED EDIE TO TEMPORARILY BREAK OFF HER ENGAGEMENT WH THE MAN SHE EVENTUALLY MARRIED—A MAN SHE SCRIBED AS “A GLOR GUY. ANY STRAIGHT WOMAN WOULD HAVE FALLEN LOVE WH HIM. HE WAS BIG AND HANDSOME AND SMART AND KNEW A LOT ABOUT JAZZ.”SHE SAYS, “IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE THEN. THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT YOU KNEW WERE GAY WERE SOME OF THE EX-WAV—YOU KNOW, WOMEN WHO HAD BEEN THE ARMY WHO WERE VERY BUTCH,” SHE SAID. “IN THE NTEXT OF THE HOMOPHOBIA THAT WAS SO PREVALENT THE 1950S,” SHE WROTE AN AFFIDAV FOR THE DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, “I CERTALY DIDN’T WANT TO BE A ‘QUEER.’ INSTEAD, I WANTED A ‘NORMAL’ LIFE.”IT WASN’T UNTIL SHE DIVORCED HER HBAND AND MOVED TO NEW YORK THE EARLY 1950S THAT WDSOR ULD FULLY EXPLORE HER SEXUALY. SHE “TRAVELED WH SIX GAY GUYS FOR THE FIRST TWO YEARS” BEE SHE “DIDN’T KNOW WHERE THE LBIANS WERE.”THEN, 1963, SHE MET THEA SPYER, A PSYCHOLOGIST AND VLIST, AND SPARKED A ROMANCE THAT CHANGED BOTH HER LIFE AND, NOW, THE LIV OF GAY UPL THROUGHOUT THE UNED STAT. FOR YEARS, THEY KEPT THEIR RELATNSHIP MOSTLY SECRET. EDIE WAS NOT OUT TO -WORKERS AT HER HIGH-RANKG POSN AT IBM. SHE HAD ONLY REVEALED HER LOVE TO VERY CLOSE IENDS AFTER SPYER PROPOSED WH A DIAMOND BROOCH 1967.THEN, A REVOLUTN HAPPENED. A POLICE RAID AT THE DOWNTOWN GAY BAR, STONEWALL INN, RULTED A STRG OF VLENT RTS BY S PATRONS AND BEME ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT.“SIXTY YEARS AGO I SAID I DON’T SEE WHY I HAD TO BE INTIFIED WH THOSE QUEENS,” WDSOR SAID, REFERENCG THE MANY DRAG QUEENS THAT HUNG OUT ON CHRISTOPHER STREET AND STONEWALL WHO, AT THAT TIME, MANY GAYS AND LBIANS HATED BEG ASSOCIATED WH. “AND THEN THOSE QUEENS OVERTURNED A POLICE R” DURG THE RT “AND CHANGED MY LIFE.”IT WAS THEN THAT THE MUNY BEGAN G TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER.“UNTIL THEN, AND, FACT, UNTIL THE AIDS CRISIS, THERE WERE TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS. THERE WERE GAY MEN AND THERE WERE LBIANS. BUT WHAT HAPPENED WH THE AIDS CRISIS, THERE WAS NO REGNN OM THE POPULATN AND THEY LLED THE GAY DISEASE, THE GAY NCER, BUT THE WOMEN ME POURG TO HELP. SO WE ALL REALLY SAW EACH OTHER FOR THE FIRST TIME.”AFTER MORE THAN 40 YEARS TOGETHER, WDSOR AND SPYER WED CANADA 2007. SPYER HAD BEEN GIVEN A TERMAL DIAGNOSIS AFTER YEARS ALG WH PROGRSIVE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS. THEY KNEW THEIR TIME WAS LIMED AND GAY MARRIAGE WAS YET TO BE LEGALIZED NEW YORK.***NOW, HER VOLVEMENT ADVOTG FOR AND WH THE LGBT MUNY HAS CHANGED WDSOR’S LIFE.“THIS MUNY HAS MEANT THE WORLD TO ME,” SHE SAID. “IT FILLED MY LIFE AFTER THEA DIED AND I N’T TELL YOU THE EXTENT TO WHICH CHANGED HOW I ULD BE AND WHERE I WOULD BE LIFE. AND ’S WHAT GAVE ME THE GUTS TO DO THE URT SE.”AFTER SPYER PASSED AWAY 2009, WDSOR SUFFERED HER OWN HEART ATTACK. IT WAS A PROGNOSIS DOCTORS “CHARACTERIZED AS BROKEN HEART SYNDROME,” WDSOR SCRIBED.SOON AFTER, SHE WAS FACED WH A $363,053 TATE-TAX BILL ON THE PROPERTY SHE HERED OM HER LATE WIFE. IT WAS A TAX THAT HETEROSEXUAL SPO WERE ALREADY EXEMPT OM. YET, WDSOR, WHOSE MARRIAGE LEGALLY WAS REGNIZED BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK, WAS FORCED TO PAY. DOMA PREVENTED THE FERAL ERNMENT OM REGNIZG HER MARRIAGE.SO, 2010, SHE SUED WH THE HELP OF ROBERTA KAPLAN, A "BRILLIANT LIGATN PARTNER WH PL, WEISS, RIFKD, WHARTON & GARRISON" WHO HAS BEEN NAMED ONE OF THE "TOP 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS" THE UNED STAT AND ALSO HAPPENS TO BE A LBIAN. THE SU ARGUED THAT DOMA VLATED NSTUTNAL RIGHTS TO EQUAL PROTECTN. IN 2012, THE U.S. SEND CIRCU COURT OF APPEALS LED HER FAVOR.THE LGBT CENTER NEW YORK CY BEME HER BASE AS THE SU MOVED TO THE SUPREME COURT. EVERY DAY FOR THREE WEEKS, A CREW ASSEMBLED A RALLY STATN ANTICIPATN OF HER SE REACHG SCOTUS SO WDSOR WOULDN’T HAVE TO TRAVEL BACK AND FORTH TO WASHGTON, D.C. IF THE URT DIDN’T TAKE THAT DAY, THE STAFF WOULD BREAK EVERYTHG DOWN AND START OVER THE NEXT DAY.WDSOR’S VOLVEMENT WH THE CENTER DAT BACK TO S FOUNDG DAYS. SHE HAD A LARGE HAND SETTG UP THE ANIZATN’S FIRST PUTERIZED DATABASE AFTER OPENED S DOORS, AND ANIZED THE FIRST WOMEN’S DANCE AND SERVED ON THE BOARD OF SAGE (SERVICE & ADVOCY FOR GAY, LBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR ELRS), WHICH WAS FOUND AT THE CENTER.WHEN A CISN WAS FALLY REACHED ON JUNE 26, 2013, WDSOR WAS THERE TO HOLD HER PRS NFERENCE. THE CISN MEANT GAY UPL ACROSS THE UNTRY WERE ALLOWED TO FILE JOT TAX RETURNS, ACCS SOCIAL SECURY BENEFS, BEE EXEMPT OM HERANCE TAX, AND ALLOW FOREIGN SPO TO RECEIVE GREEN RDS.“AT FIRST I READ ALL OF THE BRIEFS, BUT AFTER THE FIRST NEGATIVE BRIEF OM THE OPPOSN I DIDN’T READ THEM ANYMORE,” WDSOR SAID, SEEMG TO DISTANCE HERSELF OM ANY NEGATIVE REACTNS OR OPNS OF HER SE.SHE’S TAKEN THAT APPROACH HER ENTIRE LIFE. “AT SOME POT I LOOKED ONLE AND THERE WERE MEAN MENTS,” SHE SAID. “BUT I JT DIDN’T KNOW THOSE KDS OF PEOPLE” MY SOCIAL LIFE. AND SHE DIDN’T WANT THEM THERE.NOW, ALMOST TWO YEARS AFTER SHE SUCCEED, WDSOR, WHO BELIEV HER CELEBRY STAT IS “JOYO BEE ’S FOR THE RIGHT REASONS,” KNOWS THAT THE FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS IS FAR BUT FISHED.“NOW THAT WE HAVE MARRIAGE, A LOT OF PEOPLE ASK WHY WE N’T JT BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. WHY DO WE STILL HAVE TO BE TALKG ABOUT A GAY CENTER OR A GAY THIS OR GAY THAT?” WDSOR SAYS. “I THK WE HAVE A LOT TO DO. A LOT. THERE ARE A LN THGS TO STILL BE DONE TO MAKE EQUAL,” WHICH IS WHY SHE HAS TURNED HER FOC TO TG HERSELF ON TRANS INTY AND AT-RISK YOUTH.“FIRST OF ALL, I HAVE A LOT OF FEELG FOR TRANS PEOPLE. THEY ARE MAKG GEO PROGRS, BUT ’S VERY PAFUL PROGRS. THEY ARE THE MOST PICKED ON EVERY WAY, BUT LUCKILY THEY HAVE A UPLE IMPORTANT CELEBRI,” LIKE LAVERNE COX.ANOTHER ISSUE WDSOR HAS TAKEN CLOSE TO HEART IS THE HUNDREDS OF THOANDS OF YOUTH THAT HAVE BEEN FORCED TO LIVE A LIFE ON THE STREET FOR G OUT TO THEIR FAI.“WE ALSO HAVE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 40 AND 50% OF KIDS LIVG ON THE STREET WHO ARE GAY. THIS IS A WHOLE CHUNK OF WHO ALSO TOOK THE URAGE TO E OUT BUT WERE THROWN OUT OF THEIR HOM AND FORCED TO LIVE THE STREET. AND UNTIL THE ERNMENT TAK OVER, WE HAVE TO BE RPONSIBLE FOR THAT.”WHILE SHE MAK SURE TO ADVOTE FOR THE ISSU AT ALMOST EVERY SPEECH SHE GIV AND PROMIS THAT “THEY N UNT ON ANYTHG THEY WANT” OM HER, WDSOR HAS ATTEMPTED A QUIETER LIFE FOR HERSELF. THIS YEAR, SHE IS ATTEMPTG TO ONLY HAVE ONE OBLIGATN A MONTH, THOUGH SHE’S ALREADY BROKEN THAT LE A HANDFUL OF TIM. BUT, SHE KNOWS ’S WORTH .“CHILDREN BORN TODAY WILL GROW UP A WORLD WHOUT DOMA,” WDSOR TOLD A ROOM FULL OF REPORTERS AFTER LEARNG OF THE SUPREME COURT CISN. “AND THOSE SAME CHILDREN WHO HAPPEN TO BE GAY WILL BE EE TO LOVE AND GET MARRIED—AS THEA AND I DID—BUT WH THE SAME FERAL BENEFS, PROTECTNS, AND DIGNY AS EVERYONE ELSE. IF I HAD TO SURVIVE THEA, WHAT A GLOR WAY TO DO , AND SHE WOULD BE SO PLEASED.” JT JON

That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S. Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v. The state fally troduced the untry to gay marriage (m the feral benefs) when began issug same-sex marriage licens on May 17, that year, the U.

Bh—that would outlaw gay marriage across the untry. 2004 was notable for upl many other stat as well, though for the oppose reason: Ten typilly nservative stat, along wh Oregon, enacted state-level bans on gay marriage. Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire.

THE REMARRIAGE OF EDIE WDSOR, A GAY MARRIAGE PNEER

Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007. Perry legalized same-sex marriage early 2010s ntued the state-level battl over gay marriage that fed the precedg , wh at least one notable event. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal.

Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000. She ma history 2010 after challengg the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which banned the feral regnn of same-sex marriag and the benefs they were entled the statute was overturned 2013, was an unprecented lg that sent joyo shockwav throughout the gay muny and the rt of the Uned Stat. Drsed sharp, tailored clothg and a mega-watt se, she’s nfint when she proclaims that “50% of the populatn” is gay, and feisty while assertg that she don’t “have any sympathy for bisexuals, ” bee she thks s “phony.