Its with a sad heart that we have to report that Edie Windsor,  whose landmark legal case paved the way for gay marriage, has died at 88.

Widsor was the plaintiff in Windsor vs. U.S., a 2013 Supreme Court landmark case that knocked down the Defense of Marriage Act’s discrimination against LGBT couples in 2013.

Windsor, in her legal battle, asked for a tax refund after her Canadian marriage to Thea Spyer was not recognized by the U.S. government when Spyer died in 2009.

Theo and Edie lived together for more than 40 years, many with Spyer suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and Windsor helping with her care. 

The fight that she helped lead to the 2013 Supreme Court decision that  allowed same-sex married couples to receive federal benefits when few major LGBT organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign would back her, contributed to the legal reasoning behind 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized gay marriage across the U.S.

Edie Windsor will go down in history as a legend in the LGBT community.