Edith Windsor paid $363,053 in estate tax because the United States did not recognise her marriage to Thea Spyer, and the Supreme Court struck the law down

Edith Windsor met Thea Spyer, a psychologist, in New York in 1963. In 1967 Spyer proposed with a diamond pin instead of a ring, so that no one would ask questions the couple could not answer. Spyer was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and Windsor cared for her. After a poor prognosis they married in Toronto, Canada, in 2007, and New York recognised the marriage. Spyer died in February 2009 and left her entire estate to Windsor. A surviving husband would have paid no federal estate tax on that estate. Because section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act defined marriage for federal purposes as between a man and a woman, Windsor paid $363,053. She sued for a refund. Windsor said that if Thea had been Theo she would not have had to pay. On 26 June 2013 the Supreme Court held section 3 unconstitutional as a deprivation of liberty under the Fifth Amendment. Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority, and four justices dissented. Windsor married Judith Kasen in 2016 and died in Manhattan on 12 September 2017, aged 88.