A Love Story and a Supreme Court Case

Porto Bello Restaurant at 206 Thompson Street, where Edith Windsor first met Thea Clara Spyer in 1963. As Spyer's widow, Windsor filed and won a significant Supreme Court case.

NPS PHOTO

Dancing for Discreet Lesbians

Like many women, Edith Windsor came to New York to be a lesbian.¹ She had divorced her husband, obtained a master’s degree in mathematics from New York University and worked for IBM in the promising field of computer programming. But she was lonely.

She called a friend, who told her that an Italian restaurant had a Friday evening event where discreet lesbians could dance and meet each other. It was Porto Bello, located at 206 Thompson Street. (As of this writing, it remains an Italian restaurant in the same location.)

There, in 1963, Windsor met Thea Clara Spyer. They danced, Windsor said, until she wore a hole in her stocking.² It took two years before they began dating but, once they started, the couple remained together for life. Spyer proposed in 1967 by giving Windsor a broach; a ring would inspire too many questions.³ They moved to an apartment near Washington Square and sometimes marched in New York City gay pride parades. Windsor said, “It was a love affair that just kept on and on and on.”⁴ In 2007, they went to Canada and got married.

After 20 years of living with multiple sclerosis, Spyers’s health began to fail. Windsor left work to become Spyer's caregiver. When Spyer died in 2009, Windsor received a large bill in estate taxes. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996, prohibited the federal government from recognizing any same-sex marriage, including their Canadian marriage. Windsor sued, challenging the constitutionality of DOMA.⁵

On June 26, 2013, two days before the 44^th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to strike down DOMA.⁶ Within days, the Obama Administration allowed federal employees with same-sex marriages to include their spouses in their health and insurance plans.⁷ It is a fitting tribute for a woman who ended her career to care for an ill spouse.

Windsor attended the dedication of Stonewall National Monument in June 2016. Later that year she remarried, at the age of 87.⁸ She died in 2017.

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¹ Hicklin, Aaron. "Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer: When Edie Met Thea," Out.com, June 26, 2015. Accessed June 21, 2019.

² Gabbatt, Adam. "Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer: 'A love affair that just kept on and on and on'," The Guardian, June 26, 2013. Retrieved June 21, 2019.

³ Totenberg, Nina. "Meet The 83-Year-Old Taking On The U.S. Over Same-Sex Marriage," NPR.org, March 21, 2013. Retrieved June 21, 2019.

⁴ Gabbatt, op. cit.

⁵ "Complaint: United States v. Windsor," PDF, aclu.org. Retrieved June 21, 2019.

⁶ "United States v. Windsor," Justia.com. Retrieved June 21, 2019.

⁷ Neel, Joe. "How The End Of DOMA Will Affect Obamacare, Federal Employees," NPR.org. Retrieved June 21, 2019.

⁸ Ring, Trudy. "DOMA Plaintiff Edie Windsor Remarries," Advocate.com, October 1, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2019.