New York City’s Mayor, Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn plan to file a joint legal bring supporting a local widow’s challenge of The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional.
Edie Windsor, a New Yorkers, has sued the US Government. She is suing for being forced to pay $363,000 in estate taxes for her wife, Thea Spyer. Heterosexual couples are not forced to pay estate taxes on late spouses, according to tax codes.
According to the New York Daily News, Bloomberg said of the DOMA law “It deprives married gay New Yorkers of equal protection of the laws, and we are filing a brief to support the case against it.”
Bloomberg and Quinn's brief will support the claim that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The Irish American, City Council Speaker, and mayoral hopeful, Quinn said “As Courts across the country continue to strike down DOMA's unconstitutional assault on our civil liberties, I'm proud to join Mayor Bloomberg and the chorus of voices that have called to repeal DOMA once and for all.
Speaking to the New York Times she said “Sometimes it takes elected officials longer to get there than the American public...But I really believe the American public wants Edith to be treated the way that any widow would be treated.”
Quinn is a lesbian who married her partner, Kim Catullo, last month.
On 6th June Windsor, an 83-year old widow, from Greenwich Village, won her initial trial when the US District Court/Southern District of New York ruled DOMA to be unconstitutional.
The Defense of Marriage Act prohibits same-sex couples from receiving some marriage-based benefits afforded to heterosexual couples, such as health care, joint filing of taxes and inheritance tax exemptions.
After the court ruling Windsor said “I didn't want anybody to have to repeat what I experienced when Thea died.”
She continued “The win ... just thrilled and elated me."
4 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.KatieMurphy | Jun 26, 2012, 12:42 AM EDT
Irish pjk Basically your saying you tolerate gays. Better But you dont want equality. As for marriage alwasy being man and woman, in the old old days it was usually man and many women. Still believed in by the mormons. And it was also re inter-racial, always for so long forbidden. But strangely enough only when it was the black man and the white woman, not the reverse BAsically marriage has always had lots of unequal if not downright freaky scenes. Gays having marriage rights (not rites) may well help to embarrass the 50% of us str8s who are destroying the institution. Also sorry if the words change eg a man and his husband etc. There I think you just need to get used to change. Whioh for most good people who have the anti -words "no gay marriage" is their real problem. If nothing changed we'd still be living in the dark ages. 1000 years of zero social and ecnomic progress while the catholic church caballed with catholic kings to keep Europe in bondage. And a bloody mess it was to break that "religious freedom" The anythhing but holy Inquisition of the 1500s, and it even extended to the french revolution of the late 1700s. BTW where in the world did you come up with the two fruits argument? Talk about analogies. if thats the best you can do, thats kind of fantasy land. Or are you actually calling two ss gays fruits, which is an a common insult? Shame on you
SingleDonald | Jun 22, 2012, 09:25 PM EDT
I will comment on this controversial subject. I DO support most of DOMA, and agree with irishpjk & mairint. However, some changes are in order, such as the unfair burden placed on Edie Windsor, concerning estate taxes. Also, there is just concern regarding gay partners not being eligible for benefits given to heterosexual couples, such as medical coverage. Bill Gates, of Microsoft, gives these benefits to homosexual couples, provided they have a valid partnership. Heterosexual couples have to marry, in order to receive them. I retired from a N.Y. State Agency, which does extend these benefits to gay partnerships.
irishpjk | Jun 22, 2012, 07:05 PM EDT
wtf I have no axe to grind with the gay community; I don’t worry about or bother them. One problem I do have is the changes they want to make to the meaning of certain words. The word marriage has always meant male and female, the word wife means the female partner, the word husband means the male partner. So when I am talking to a man and he says to me that is my husband my assumption is he is at least confused. In my book two partners of the same sex will never be husband and wife. If I have an apple and a banana I have two fruits not a pair of bananas. I don’t know how to make it any clearer than that.
alisaann | Jun 22, 2012, 04:02 PM EDT
GOOD FOR THEM....DOMA IS A BAD LAW...AND NEEDS A COMPLETE "REPEAL"...SAME-SEX COUPLES SHOULD ALL THE SAME RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS, THAT HETROSEXUALS TAKE FOR GRANTED. ALISA