Namesake

Today as I was scrolling through my twitter timeline, I saw a tweet mentioning Edie Windsor, and I realized, for the first time, how awesome and inspiring it is that my name--well, the name you lovelies know me by, at least--is Edie, too. It's funny because it wasn't intentional at all. Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind, way back when I picked the name, I had heard of Edie Windsor, but I definitely didn't know much about her, other than that she was important to the gay rights movement for some reason, and I certainly didn't know at the time the extent of her impact on this country, or the extent of her bravery.

For those of you who might not know, Edie Windsor sued the US government in 2010 after she was forced to pay over $300K in taxes after her wife (Thea Spyer) died. The short version of why is that she'd had to pay those taxes because the government didn't recognize Edie and Thea's marriage. And so, like the bad-ass bitch she is, she sued. And in June of 2013, she fucking won.  Her win was the final nail in the coffin of DOMA (the "Defense Of Marriage" act) which kept married gay couples from being able to take advantage of tons of federal provisions, like the surviving-spouse estate tax exemption that would have kept Edie from having to pay all that money after Thea's death.  As a result of Edie's case, the Supreme Court declared DOMA unconstitutional, a HUGE victory for gay rights--and this happened because Edie fought back.

Edie Windsor was on the short list for Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2013, and they did a great profile on her, check it out if you want to learn more (and you should!)

There's also a documentary about Edie and Thea (Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement), which I think is on Netflix. I haven't watched it yet because I am not yet ready to cry for a thousand years.  If you watch it, or have seen it already, let me know in the comments if I will die from all the feelings.

So anyway, my point is that Edie Windsor is super cool you guys.  It may sound corny, but I feel lucky to share my name, even if only in this space, with such an inspiring woman. So, just thought I'd share that.

<3

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