Let me tell you a little story about an 84 woman who just became my number one hero.

Edith Windsor is no spring chicken, as I said she’s 84 years old, and through no fault of her own, all her life she had to battle untold prejudice, injustice, and discrimination.

She also had the misfortune of having to see her loved one battle a horrid disease, and losing.

But Edith kept strong. She didn’t give in. She decided to make a difference in the world, and this week she was vindicated.

This week she extended her frail middle finger towards the US legal system, and walked away with Pride.

But that’s my version of what happened of course. Edith’s version is slightly different.

"It's an accident of history that put me here," she said to the press. "If Thea (Edith’s wife) had been Theo, things would have been different”.

For forty years, Edith Windsor was in a same-sex relationship with her partner Thea Spyer. They got engaged in 1969 but had to wait until 2007 to get lawfully married in Ontario, Canada.

At this time, Thea was already battling Multiple Sclerosis, but they forged ahead against all odds.

Their marriage was finally fully recognised under the provisions set forth in the Canadian Civil Marriage Act and also in New York under common law principles.

Sadly, in 2009, only two years after their marriage, Spyer died, and like most married couples, she left her entire estate to her wife Edith.

In the US, when a spouse dies leaving their estate to the other spouse, they get an estate tax exemption, but because this was a same sex marriage, Edith was not granted this exemption.

This was justified through Section 3 of DOMA (a ridiculous part of US law called The Defence of Marriage Act) stated that the term ‘spouse’ only applies to a marriage between a man and a woman.

Conveniently enough, the Internal Revenue found that the exemption did not apply and compelled Edith to pay a ridiculous $363,000 in estate taxes.

This is when Edith’s strong will kicked in.

Though already 82 years old at the time, she sued the United States of America, arguing that DOMA was unconstitutional.

She won.

But the case went to the Second Circuit court of Appeals.

She won that too.

But the case now went to the Supreme Court.

And finally, last week, the Supreme Court took a 5-4 ruling striking down the discriminatory law, finally making Edith eligible for a tax refund, and changing the legal playing field for same-sex spouses once and for all.

Not only is this a success story of perseverance that shows how one person can make a whole lot of difference but, more importantly, it shows how good politicians can, and should, be confident enough to change their minds when needs be.

Former President Bill Clinton was the one who originally signed DOMA into law in 1996, but at the time, same-sex marriages were not possible in most of the US, so in reality, DOMA didn’t have quite a practical impact.

But when most states started legalising same-sex marriages, DOMA became a nightmare.

The blatant hypocrisy and unfairness of it all was stark raving madness so good ol’ Bill was bold enough to admit that he was wrong.

After Edith’s final win, he issued a joint statement with Hilary applauding the Supreme’s Court decision.

Here’s the best part of it:

"By overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, the court recognized that discrimination towards any group holds us all back in our efforts to form a more perfect union. We are also encouraged that marriage equality may soon return to California. We applaud the hard work of the advocates who have fought so relentlessly for this day, and congratulate Edie Windsor on her historic victory."

Edith Windsor will now get her money back, but more importantly, this ruling will affect many thousands of couples everywhere. For starters, gay Americans married to foreign nationals will now be able to sponsor their spouses for green cards.

It’s 2012 and finally spouses can legally live in the same country. Geee! Isn’t that super?

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