NEW YORK (AP) – Love took Edith Windsor to the marriage altar. A big tax bill after the death of her first spouse took her to the Supreme Court, which struck down critical parts of a U.S. marriage law in a ruling that made Windsor a gay rights hero and paved a path toward legalizing same-sex nuptials nationwide.
Windsor, who marveled at the arc of gay rights in her lifetime, died Tuesday in New York at age 88, said her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan. The cause of her death wasn’t given, but she had struggled with heart issues for years.
“I grew up knowing that society thought I was inferior,” she said in 2012. “Did I ever think we would be discussing equality in marriage? Never. It was just so far away.”
Windsor already was 81 when she brought a lawsuit that proved to be a turning point for gay rights. The impetus was the 2009 death of her spouse, Thea Spyer, a psychologist.
The women had married legally in Canada in 2007 after spending more than 40 years together, but under the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act she was barred from getting the usual exemption from federal taxes on Spyer’s estate. That meant Windsor faced a $360,000 tax bill that heterosexual couples would not have.