{"id":353121,"date":"2017-09-13T12:30:21","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T12:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=353121"},"modified":"2017-11-10T11:24:48","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T11:24:48","slug":"gay-rights-trailblazer-edie-windsor-dies-aged-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=353121","title":{"rendered":"Gay rights trailblazer Edie Windsor dies aged 88"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gay rights activist Edith Windsor, whose same-sex marriage fight led to a landmark US ruling, has died aged 88.<\/p>\n

Her death was confirmed to the New York Times by her wife Judith Kasen-Windsor.<\/p>\n

Windsor’s Supreme Court case struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, granting same-sex married couples federal recognition for the first time.<\/p>\n

She had sued the US government after being ordered to pay $363,053 (\u00a3224,940) in federal estate tax after her previous wife, Thea Spyer, died.<\/p>\n

The couple had been partners for 44 years and had married in Canada in 2007.<\/p>\n

Windsor, known as Edie, argued that the provision of the law which defined marriage as between a man and a woman prevented her from getting a tax deduction due to married couples – and was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

\"Edith<\/span><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a landmark 2013 ruling, the US Supreme Court agreed – and that decision became the basis for a wave of further court rulings increasing the rights of same-sex couples.<\/p>\n

In 2015, another crucial Supreme Court ruling gave same-sex couples the right to marry.<\/p>\n

Windsor died in New York. A cause of death was not given, but she had struggled with heart issues for years, the Associated Press news agency reported.<\/p>\n

\"EdithWindsor’s battle with the US government cemented her status as a pioneer for civil rights<\/span><\/figure>\n

“The world lost a tiny but tough-as-nails fighter for freedom, justice and equality,” Judith Kasen-Windsor was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

“Edie was the light of my life. She will always be the light for the LGBTQ community, which she loved so much and which loved her right back,” Ms Kasen-Windsor added.<\/p>\n

Former US presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama also paid tribute.<\/p>\n

Mr Obama said in a statement: “America’s long journey towards equality has been guided by countless small acts of persistence and fuelled by the stubborn willingness of quiet heroes to speak out for what’s right.<\/p>\n

“Few were as small in stature as\u00a0Edie Windsor\u00a0– and few made as big a difference to America.”<\/p>\n

\"EdieMs Windsor at the New York Gay Pride Parade in 2013<\/span><\/figure>\n

Bill Clinton tweeted that “in standing up for herself, Edie also stood up for millions of Americans and their rights”.<\/p>\n

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio also posted a message on Twitter in which he praised her ability to provide the “moral universe” with “a good kick in the ass”.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Windsor was born Edith Schlain in Philadelphia in 1929 to Russian Jewish immigrants.<\/div>\n

She studied at Temple University and, after graduating in 1950, she married Saul Windsor, a friend of her brother.<\/p>\n

The couple split after less than a year and Windsor moved to New York, where she worked as a computer programmer for technology giant IBM.<\/p>\n

She met Spyer, her long-time partner, some years later. The pair joined activist gay and lesbian rights groups and participated in numerous marches and parades.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Spyer died due to complications from a heart condition. Her death sparked a legal battle between Windsor and the US government which ultimately cemented her status as a pioneer for civil rights.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gay rights activist Edith Windsor, whose same-sex marriage fight led to a landmark US ruling, has died aged 88. Her death was confirmed to the New York Times by her wife Judith Kasen-Windsor. Windsor’s Supreme Court case struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, granting same-sex married couples federal recognition for the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-353121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=353121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353121\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=353121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=353121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=353121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}