Southampton honors LGBTQ pioneer Edith Windsor on anniversary of court ruling allowing same-sex marriage

Mary Gallagher and Mary Trembinski were together for 25 years before they were allowed to legally marry.

On Monday, they traveled from Farmingdale to Southampton to honor the woman who helped make it happen: Edith Windsor, who won a landmark Supreme Court victory exactly 10 years ago Monday that paved the way for same-sex marriage.

“She set the world on fire,” said Gallagher, a nurse. “We are married because of her and we can move to any state in this country and remain married.”

The couple were at the unveiling of the Edith Windsor Heart Memorial in front of Southampton Town Hall. The memorial is comprised of 261 interlocking hearts made of pavers that form one large heart. Windsor, who died six years ago, was a longtime summer resident of Southampton.

Town officials, who launched the project, say it will serve as a spot where people can get married — regardless of their sexual orientation.

“Thank you to Edie Windsor, you can marry who you love right here,” Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said Monday. “You don’t have to hide your love. You don’t have to pretend it doesn’t exist.”

Windsor won the historic case on June 26, 2013.

She had legally married her longtime partner, noted psychologist Thea Spyer, in Canada in 2007. When Spyer died in 2009, the Internal Revenue Service denied Windsor the unlimited spousal exemption from federal estate taxes that married heterosexuals received.

The government said she owed $363,053.

Windsor sued, arguing that the Defense of Marriage Act, which recognized only marriages between a man and a woman, was unconstitutional.

She won in a 5-4 decision, and became a national celebrity. President Barack Obama called to congratulate her. Time magazine named her a runner-up to Pope Francis for person of the year.

Two years later, on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage a constitutional guarantee nationwide.

“The gay rights movement cannot be written in history without crediting Edie Windsor,” Judith Kasen-Windsor, who was Windsor’s wife for the last year of her life, said in a statement Monday.

Kasen-Windsor was supposed to be at the ceremony, but was diverted to LaGuardia Airport for another event honoring Windsor that Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled to attend.

Windsor is receiving other honors in recognition of the landmark decision. A street sign at Fifth Avenue and Washington Square North in Manhattan was unveiled last Tuesday with the names of Windsor and Spyer. They used to live nearby.

At the Southampton memorial, people can have their names and a message engraved on one heart for $1,000. Some of the messages already there say “Love is Love,” and “Don’t Postpone Joy.”

The names of Windsor and Spyer, along with the date of their marriage, are at the center of the heart, with all the others radiating out from it.

The 50 or so hearts engraved so far have already paid for the project, Schneiderman said. Officials expect to raise at least $200,000 more from the other hearts. That money will be donated to the Edie Windsor Health Care Center in Hampton Bays. The center specializes in the treatment of LGBTQ people but is open to anyone.

The Town plans to make more additions to the memorial, including a plaque explaining the significance of Windsor’s life.

Another married couple that traveled to Southampton for the ceremony on Monday said Windsor changed their lives.

“Obviously we still have more to accomplish, but she was a big catalyst for that change in the right direction,” said Stephanie LaCrosse, of Yaphank.

Just before the ceremony started, she gave her wife, Cindy LaCrosse, a surprise: Stephanie told her she had bought a heart marking their wedding anniversary.