Born: 20 June 1929, United States
Died: 12 September 2017
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Edith Schlain
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
Edie Windsor was in her 80s when she sued the U.S. government. Her wife, Thea Spyer, died in 2009. The following year, Windsor received a $363,000 tax bill—estate taxes that, had the government recognized their marriage, would have been nonexistent. Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement, a documentary about the couple, who had been together for more than four decades before marrying in Canada in 2007, came out the year Spyer died.
“The combination of the film, and the suit, kind of gave me a reason to live after she died,” Windsor said in 2012. “Because I’m an old lady! I am going to be 83 this month. And we had a nice life, and it was enough, and that was kind of my feeling before the film, and then before the suit. My purpose now is this, and I’ve kind of fallen in love with the whole gay community, no question. So I want everybody to profit from this.”
As the case made its way through the courts—challenged not by the Obama administration, but by Republican House Speaker John Boehner—Windsor questioned whether she would survive to see its outcome. But in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in her favor in Windsor v. the United States. The case not only returned her $363,000, with interest, but also was a major milestone for same-sex marriage equality in the country as it struck down the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. “I think (Thea)’d be so proud and happy and just so pleased at how far we have come,” Windsor said. “It’s a culmination of an engagement that happened between us in 1967 when we didn’t dream that we’d be able to marry.” While she fought the legal battle, Windsor was also a regular presence at events and marches, fighting for LGBTQIA+ rights. Windsor even found love again, remarrying in 2016, before passing away the following year at 88.