Edie Windsor Day

Executive Director of PhillyGayCalendar

On April 26th, 2014, Edie Windsor returned to her hometown of Philadelphia and her alma mater, Temple University, to be recognized for her role in overturning a significant portion of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). It was a day full of awards, accolades, and frank discussions for Windsor that included Philadelphia Mayor, Michael Nutter; the President of Temple University, Neil Theobald; and Temple University Alumni President, John Campolongo in front of an enthusiastic audience in the Temple Performing Arts Center. Windsor charmed the crowd instantly with her openness and breezy humor until everyone felt like they were on a first name basis with her.

Windsor won a landmark decision on June 26, 2013 before the Supreme Court of the United States. Following the death of her wife, Thea Spyer, Edie Windsor was sent a $360, 053 estate tax bill by the IRS. But had Windsor and Spyer been an opposite sex married couple, Windsor would have paid no taxes at all under federal inheritance laws. Windsor and Spyer had been lawfully married in Canada and their marriage had been recognized by the state of New York. However, the IRS cited DOMA as the reason why the federal government would not accord it the same legal recognition. Windsor sued the federal government contending that this violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution as defined by the Fifth Amendment. The case ended up before the Supreme Court where it affirmed Windsor’s contention and ruled that section 3 of DOMA “violates the guarantee of equal protection as applied to the Federal Government through the Fifth Amendment.” The decision continues to have far reaching repercussions for LGBT couples nationwide.

Following this Supreme Court Decision, it became possible for same sex married couples and their children to enjoy benefits equal to their opposite sex counterparts. While the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell paved the way for lesbian, gay, and bisexual identified persons to serve openly in the US military, same sex married couples and their children would now receive equal benefits and treatment by the US military. Same sex couples would now also enjoy equal access to visas and immigration for their spouses and children. They would be entitled to Medicare benefits, the right to be placed in the same nursing home as their spouse, and equal access to Social Security benefits. And all same sex married federal employees could expect to receive equal benefits in terms of health insurance, life insurance, retirement accounts and much more. And in 2014, married same sex couples became eligible to file jointly on federal tax returns for the first time in US History.

By contrast, the decision permitted individual US states to determine whether or not they would allow same sex civil marriages based on their own laws. And religious institutions remained free to marry same sex couples or refuse them even in states where gay marriage was legal. This piece meal resolution of the issue by the Supreme Court left many understandably confused. However, since the Windsor decision, a series of legal challenges in states from Virginia to Arkansas have resulted in state Supreme Court decisions overturning existing same sex marriage bans in many of these states. A similar challenge has been launched by the ACLU on behalf of multiple same sex couples who are legally married elsewhere, but whose benefits have been denied in Pennsylvania. A decision in that case is expected any day. In the absence of the total repeal of DOMA by the joint houses of Congress and the passage of a law affirming the equal treatment of same sex married couples as the law of the land, many of these cases are expected to end up before the Supreme Court. But make no mistake, millions of Americans now enjoy equal rights, protections, and benefits that did not exist a year ago. This incredible sea change is Windsor’s legacy. But it doesn’t end there.

Windsor attended the special screening of the documentary about her life and spouse Thea Spyer, “Edie and Thea: A Very Long Engagement,” where she was presented with Temple Alumni Fellow Certificate from Temple University Alumni President, John Compolongo. The creation of the Edith Windsor Fund to fund LGBT studies at Temple was also announced. “A Very Long Engagement” provided all those in attendance with an intimate look into the lives of two lesbian women coming of age in the 1950s at a time when little to no support or resources existed for LGBT people. The documentary showed their lives together through candid photographs projected against a backdrop while the two tell stories of their romance and courtship on camera with additional video intercut.

Windsor grew up in Philadelphia where she graduated from Temple then moved to NYC to attend NYU graduate school in mathematics and search for lesbian community. But in the face of the very real dangers of being perceived as gay, Windsor stayed in the closet and tried once more to fit in. This was McCarthy’s 1950s America, where being accused of being gay or communist destroyed people’s lives. After briefly marrying a man, Windsor recalled returning to New York City desperate to find others like her, finally daring to ask her friends, “if you know where the lesbians are please tell me!” During this time, Windsor forged her equally groundbreaking career as a programmer for IBM that was to be the cornerstone of her career. Spyer on the other hand, seemed to experience much of the darker side of prejudice against gays and lesbians that was consistent throughout the 20th century. She was kicked out of Sarah Lawrence after being found with another woman. Jewish by birth, her family had escaped Holland for Britain one step ahead of the Nazi occupation, but her family was not tolerant of her relationships with women and they became estranged. Spyer finished her education elsewhere and became a psychologist with a private practice. It was during this time that Windsor met Spyer on the dance floor with Windsor dancing a hole in her stocking before the night parted them. While the two had immediately hit it off, it took some time and persistence on Windsor’s part before the two finally got together as a couple. The night the two finally got together for good, Windsor recalls asking Spyer, “is your dance card filled.” Spyer responded, “it is now.” Dancing was their lifelong passion and it’s clear that the fire never waned in their relationship. They got engaged with matching pins decades before they finally married in 1993. By this time, Spyer was confined to a wheelchair after developing MS, but in video taken on their wedding day, the two zipped around the dance floor together as if not a day had passed from their first meeting. This time however, Windsor managed to preserve her hose.

“A Very Special Engagement” was directed by the same pair who brought us “The Brandon Teena Story” that later inspired Hilary Swank’s Oscar Winning performance as Brandon Teena in “Boys Don’t Cry.” One can only imagine that the Hollywood feature film about Windsor and Spyer’s life won’t be far behind. And while the camera work in “A Very Special Engagement” has some of the same shakiness that documentary films suffer from, the larger than life characters of Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer and the potent love they share kept every one’s attention riveted to the screen. There were few dry eyes in the house when the lights came up. The film stands alone as a testament to the power of love in overcoming adversity. We were left with a palpable sense of joy that these two incredible people had found each other.

But “A Very Long Engagement” goes beyond the personal. Embedded in this film are powerful recollections from moments in LGBT history from the early days of the New York lesbian social scene at the Bagatelle to the power of the Stonewall riots and the AIDS crisis. Windsor spoke of the division between lesbians and gays before the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and how this terrible moment of LGBT history brought these groups much closer together. She also spoke about her experiences with NOW and its rejection of equal rights for lesbians at the height of their power, leaving the lesbians to fend for themselves. Windsor spoke of watching drag queens take to the streets for gay liberation during the Stonewall riots and how this shifted something deep within her. “Those queens changed my life forever,” she still says today. And one can’t help but notice that the AIDS crisis brought lesbians and gays together as never before to take political action which in turn became the foundation of the gay rights movement that we know today. For those who didn’t get to see it during last year’s Qfest, it is now available on Netflix and other streaming platforms. I highly recommend it.

Following the screening, Windsor was recognized by Mayor Michael Nutter by proclamation making April 26th Edie Windsor day in the “city of brotherly love and sisterly affection” otherwise known as Philadelphia. Mayor Nutter called Windsor, “the Rosa Parks of LGBT rights” noting that “neither would accept second class rights in a first class country.” Then they hugged. At 85, Windsor still seems to carry with her the spritely enthusiasm Spyer captured in her photography decades earlier.

Windsor stayed following the screening for a Q&A with LGBT rights activist and attorney, Angela Giampolo. Windsor shared that she and Spyer hadn’t expected that getting married would change anything after decades spent building a life together. But it had. The opportunity to love freely and openly, and then to have that love acknowledged by chosen family and friends made everything brighter. Finally their love was considered equal to any other. Giampolo closed by asking if Windsor had any relationship advice for those in the audience. Windsor paused for a moment and considered before responding, “don’t postpone joy” and then, “don’t move in before you’ve been together through every season twice.” This from the woman who fell in love at first sight and had to wait 40 years to put a ring on it. Clearly she thinks love is something worth waiting for. And who could blame her. While Spyer finally passed away in 2010, it’s clear that the love lives on. And that is Windsor’s most enduring legacy.

To make a donation to the Edith Windsor Fund at Temple University: http://www.cla.temple.edu/edie/

To read the Supreme Court Opinion in United States v. Windsor: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_6j37.pdf

To read more about changes to federal law after the partial repeal of DOMA, you can visit Freedom to Marry: www.freedomtomarry.org/resources/entry/implementing-the-doma-ruling-official-statements-from-government-department

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