Thea and Edith Edith Windsor is the incredible 83-year-old woman who led the charge against the Defense of Marriage Act after she was slapped with a massive tax bill because the US Government didn’t recognise her marriage to her late wife Thea Spyer. Windsor was cheered and surrounded by cameras as she and her lawyers walked to the podium. “Because of today's Supreme Court ruling the federal government can no longer discriminate against the marriages of gay and lesbian Americans,” she said. “Children born today will grow up in a world without DOMA and those same children, who happen to be gay, will be free to love and get married, as Thea and I did, but with the same federal benefits, protections and dignity as everyone else.” Windsor had to pay a US$350,000 federal estate tax bill because the government did not recognise the 2007 marriage to her late wife Thea Spyer. Under DOMA the federal government considered all gay marriages invalid, even if they were performed in states where such unions were legal. LGBT couples could not file joint federal tax returns or receive survivor benefits if a spouse died. “If I had to survive Thea, what a glorious way to do it,” Windsor said. “And she would be so pleased.” GayNZ.com - 27th June 2013