Like many married women, Edith Windsor pooled her financial and other assets with those of her spouse. Like many married women, she was devastated after her spouse's death--and her own health suffered badly. Unlike many married women, she was in a monogamous relationship for 42 years before her spouse died.
While she was recovering from a heart attack after the death of her beloved partner, Windsor was hit with a $363,000 inheritance tax bill--solely because her spouse was a woman. Heterosexual married couples are largely exempt from paying inheritance taxes on shared wealth after the death of a lawful spouse, but Windsor and other gay widows do not enjoy the same protections as their hetero counterparts because of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which basically says that you aren't really married unless you are man and woman.
A federal appeals court in New York has already declared the DOMA unconstitutional, but America needs to act definitively to correct this terrible human rights violation at the national level so that Windor's story is not endlessly repeated. Tell the Supreme Court to review and strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.
We the undersigned believe that America should be a leader in civil and human rights.
Sadly, our civil rights record is badly clouded by a flagrant inequity in how gay widows and widowers are treated under American laws. Specifically, the Defense of Marriage Act has grieving survivors paying unfair and often exhorbitant tax penalties at a time when they are most vulnerable--simply because they are gay. Edith Windsor was properly married to her partner of 42 years. Their marriage was happier and more stable than many, many heterosexual marriages which protect surviving spouses from unfair estate inheritance taxes.
It's high time for you to take action to address the terrible civil rights violations that the Defense of Marriage Act has led to. Please review and strike down the Defense of Marriage Act!
