Category: memoir/biography

Edie Windsor was a surprising, complicated and multi-faceted person who believed in life and love. Edie is most known for her landmark case against the federal government to gain recognition of her marriage to Thea Spyer. The Supreme Court ruling ultimately led to marriage equality in the US, launching Edie to icon status both before and after her death in 2017. This memoir provides an opportunity to understand such an electric and momentous figure in her own words, with the help of her cowriter Joshua Lyon.

Edie takes you through her entire life and the different realizations that followed her, from her first marriage, to moving from Philadelphia to New York, to climbing the ladder at IBM. Edie Windsor was not a perfect person, and understanding her faults as she grew into herself is a crucial part of the history she gives the reader. Likewise, her firsthand remembrance of the underground gay scene in Greenwich Village during the ’50s is a vital piece of queer history in America, and highlights more than just Edie’s story.

While reading this memoir I was constantly taken by the touching and emotional recognitions of life that centered around love, and one that fought for joy. This fire at the center of the story does not ease or erase the difficulties faced, or the obstacles that had to be overcome. However, it does show how perseverance, beautiful brooches, and dancing can and will win. It also shows that being an iconic figures is more than just a status, reinforcing the beauty and wonder that drew people to them in the first place.

Contributed by: Noel