Then comes marriage: United States v. Windsor and the defeat of DOMA, by Roberta Kaplan

 

This is a well-written account of the case that led to the defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act in the Supreme Court. Roberta Kaplan represented Edie Windsor, who, although married to her partner of more than 40 years, had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in inheritance tax because the federal government did not recognize gay marriages when applying more than a thousand federal laws. Ms. Kaplan shares her own personal journey as a lesbian who fell and love and married, but who had to fight for her rights as an adoptive mother because of DOMA. But the hero of the story is Edie Windsor and her longtime partner Thea Spyer. Their story of a more than 40 year relationship and marriage was key to making the case in court that DOMA was unconstitutional and should be abolished. This is an important story, and Kaplan describes the legal issues and implications so that they're clear to any reader, no law degree required.