In 2007, Edith Windsor married her girlfriend, Thea Spyer. When Thea died in 2009, Edith inherited Thea's property, but, because of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), she could not claim spousal inheritance rights. She was assessed over $360,000 in taxes on her inheritance--taxes she would not have owed had her marriage to Spyer (which was performed in Canada) been recognized by the federal government. Yesterday, however, a federal appeals court ruled in Edith's favor, declaring that such provisions of DOMA discriminated against homosexuals. Many observers speculate that this case will go to the Supreme Court, which will then rule once and for all on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage.
The appeals court made the right decision, of course. But let's take a moment to acknowledge those who will suffer because of this ruling: Teabaggers. Consider the quandary faced by poor Michele Bachmann, for example. If the Minnesota Congresswoman clings to her well-documented antagonism toward same-sex marriage--and homosexuality in general, which she has called "personal bondage, personal despair, and personal enslavement"--she will find herself in the equally unpalatable position--to her--of defending the rights of the IRS--an agency that she worked for only because, as she claimed, she had to "know her enemy." And not just any rights, either, but the right to seize hundreds of thousands of dollars from a widowed octogenarian! OK, a widowed octogenarian who shall burn in hellfire for her deviant lifestyle, but still!
If Bachmann possessed the intellectual capacity to appreciate irony, I'm sure even she would be tickled.
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