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Roberta Kaplan Speaks "Is it afternoon or morning? Afternoon. Good afternoon everyone.
Wow. While I have thought long and hard
about this moment, the meaning of today's decision by the United States Supreme Court
is truly overwhelming.
Even for me as the lawyer who argued the case.
Standing here at the LGBT Center in New York City,
where we had our first press conference just after we filed our case four years ago.
At its core today's supreme court ruling
affirms the principal that gay married couples
have the same right to be treated with dignity
and respect as straight married couples.
The Justices have spoken it is now clear
that discrimination against gay people solely because they are gay
violates the United States Constitution.
Indeed as Justice Kennedy explained
thats all that DOMA ever was
a statute whose sole purpose was to denigrate
gay and lesbian Americans as second-class citizens.
Seventeen long and painful years after its passage
and at a time when most of those who originally voted for it
have since recanted. Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act
is finally dead and gone and not a moment too soon.
After so many dark decades
of living their lives hidden in the closet, gay and lesbian couples throughout
this nation
can now begin to participate as fully as members of the American family.
This is not mere abstract justice.
It has real life consequences not only for Edie
Windsor who will get her money back, but for so many thousands of Americans watching
us here today.
It means for example that married gay couples no longer have to worry about
the unfair burden of the estate tax
the loss of Social Security the lack of leave from a job to care for a sick
or dying spouse
or the inability of the surviving spouse to receive proper notification
when a soldier falls in the line of duty.
The days of the skim milk marriages described by Justice Ginsburg
are over for couples who live in states like Washington
Minnesota or here in New York City. It is important to recognize
that today's court victory never would have happened
without the tenacity and courage
a 5-foot-tall 100 lb. lady
by the name of the Edie Windsor.
Who celebrated her 84th birthday only days ago.
Edie is my client, my friend and my hero..
and she is now a hero to millions of Americans.
Because she personifies the meaning a fundamentally American concepts.
Like courage, devotion, citizenship,
equality and justice.
Edie and Thea's own lives demonstrate profoundly why marriage
any quality matter so much. Thea and Edie spent 44 years together
loving and supporting each other in good times and bad.
In sickness and in health including Thea's long battle
with multiple sclerosis. When they finally got married in 2007
they needed four best women and two bestmen
to help them disassemble and reassemble
Thea's wheelchair at the airport so they could get to the ceremony.
That was a couple who really really
really wanted to get married. So when her beloved Thea died two years later
Edie of course was heartbroken but despite her grief she found the strength
and couraged to fight back. Because of her strength and courage
no gay person what ever again have to suffer the indignity
that Edie experienced because of DOMA.
Like Susan B Anthony or Rosa Parks
or Harvey Milk before her. She has lit a torch
of freedom for future generations of Americans to follow.
The events of today remind us why it is that we have a constitution
to bind us together as citizens of one nation
each of whom entitled equal protection of the law.
There is no person and no case
that better demonstrates that core concept of equal protection
than Edie Windsor versus the United States of America.
I would like to end by thanking my partners a Paul Weiss
Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. Taking Edies case on pro bono
is only the latest example the proudest traditions of our law firm.
I'd now like to introduce my wonderful Co Council James Esseks of
the ACLU. Thank you."