Lesbian widow’s $363,000 tax bill influenced Obama’s stance on Defense of Marriage Act

Edith Windsor [pictured] and Thea Spyer had a 40-year engagement and a two-year marriage, starting with a wedding in Canada recognized under the laws of New York, where they lived, and ending when Spyer died two years ago. Her death triggered a $363,053 federal tax bill from which her widow would have been exempt had she been married to a man. Windsor’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the act was one of two cited by the Obama administration to justify its decision to stop defending the law. “I couldn’t believe that our government would charge me $350,000 because I was married to a woman and not a man,” Windsor, 81, said in a video statement from the American Civil Liberties Union, which is helping to represent her.

[via Bloomberg.com]

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