Gay or lesbian or bisexual? Legally married to a same-sex partner? You have Roberta Kaplan to thank for that.
Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer were legally married in Canada in 2007—they had gotten engaged in 1967—and while their marriage was legal in Canada, and while the state of New York recognized their marriage as valid, the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” prevented the federal government from recognizing the women as a married couple. Consequently Windsor was required to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in inheritance taxes that she wouldn’t have had to pay if Thea had been Theo. Windsor wanted to sue but the big LGBT rights groups and legal organizations refused to help her. Enter Roberta Kaplan. A lawyer at a big New York firm, Kaplan immediately agreed to take Edie’s case. Kaplan argued Windsor’s case all the way to the Supreme Court and together they defeated DOMA, laying the groundwork for the the full recognition of marriage in all 50 states.
Kaplan has a new book out—Then Comes Marriage: United States V. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA—that tells her story, Edie’s story, and the absolutely riveting behind-the-scenes story of Windsor vs. The United States. I’m interviewing Kaplan tonight at Town Hall about the book at 7:30 PM. For details and tickets… click here.