NY plaintiff: Gay benefits 'bigger than marriage'

Edith Windsor thought life was over when her longtime lesbian partner and spouse died nearly four years ago. But at age 83, the New York City woman is finding she's a celebrity in some circles. Her challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage as solely between a man and a woman is one of two tests to the law that the Supreme Court will hear next year.

Windsor says the time is ripe for a ruling that Americans will cheer and a gay population too often tormented in the country's past will celebrate.

The Philadelphia-born Windsor says that will be a tribute to her own longtime love that blossomed in the 1960s, when she and Thea Clara Spyer still had to keep their relationship a secret.

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