Contact: Tom Hargis, Director of Communications, ACLU of Texas, 713.942.8146 x103 or 832.291.4776; [email protected].
WHAT: Staff and board members of the ACLU of Texas will be available to analyze the forthcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on United States v. Windsor and its implications for Texas families. The case is a challenge to Section 3 of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” which says that even when a lesbian or gay couple is legally married under state law, the federal government has to treat them as unmarried and cannot grant them any of the federal benefits, protections, and responsibilities of marriage.
WHO: The ACLU co-represents Edie Windsor in the case. Windsor was forced to pay more than $363,000 in federal estate taxes after her beloved spouse, Thea Spyer, died in 2009. Edie and Thea were together for 44 years; after a decades-long engagement, they were finally able to legally marry two years before Thea’s death. Edie’s tax bill would have been zero if Thea had been Theo.
WHEN: Ruling expected on June 11, 18, or the week of 25.
WHERE: The ACLU of Texas will have representatives available in Austin, Dallas, and Houston. If media is interested in talking to lesbian or gay couples, the ACLU will also be able to recommend individuals in selected urban centers.
Nationwide, the American Civil Liberties Union and its affiliates bring more LGBT rights cases and advocacy initiatives than any other organization. The ACLU filed the first freedom to marry case in the country, in 1970.
The ACLU of Texas is the state’s preeminent civil rights organization, at the forefront in Texas since 1938. The 11th largest ACLU affiliate in the United States, the ACLU of Texas works in the courts, the legislature, and through public education to protect civil rights and individual liberty.
