Title
Also naming South 13th Street, between Walnut and Locust Streets, as "Edie Windsor Way".
Body
WHEREAS, Edith "Edie" Schlain Windsor was a native Philadelphian, Temple University alumnus, iconic national LGBTQ-rights activist, and whose lawsuit against the federal government is widely regarded to have paved the way for nationwide marriage equality and is among the most important U.S. Supreme Court rulings for LGBTQ rights in American history; and
WHEREAS, Edith Windsor was the lead plaintiff in the landmark 2013 case, United States v. Windsor, which led the U.S. Supreme Court to rule the Federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, and for the first time guaranteed same-sex couples the right to federal recognition and benefits previously accorded to heterosexual spouses; and
WHEREAS, Edith "Edie" Windsor was born in Philadelphia on June 20, 1929, the youngest of three children of James and Celia Schlain, Jewish immigrants from Russia who struggled with poverty during the Great Depression. Her family lost their West Philadelphia candy store and home above, located at the corner of 51st and Malcolm Streets, when it was quarantined after Edith and a brother contracted polio when she was two years old. Edith's family then moved to the Cobbs Creek Neighborhood of Philadelphia where they remained; and
WHEREAS, A product of the Philadelphia public school system, Edith Windsor successfully received her bachelor's degree from Temple University in 1950 and in 1957 earned a Master's Degree in Applied Mathematics from New York University. She also learned computer programming, working for a time on the Univac computer for the Atomic Energy Commission at N.Y.U. She was hired by I.B.M. as a computer programmer in 1958; and
WHEREAS, Edith Windsor had originally gone to court simply to obtain a tax refund on an inheritance left to Edith by her partner of more than 40 years, Thea Spyer, with whom she was legally married in Canada. But for thousands ...
Click here for full text