A screening of Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement, a documentary chronicling the lesbian couple whose case brought down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), will take place 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1 at the St. Paul JCC, 1375 St. Paul Ave.
Community members are invited to celebrate the first day same-sex couples can marry in Minnesota with a screening of the documentary and a wedding cake reception. The event is sponsored by the St. Paul and Sabes JCCs (the St. Paul JCC is the first JCC in the country to offer same-sex couples family memberships).
The film tells the story of Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer, who shared their lives together as a couple in New York City for 44 years. After a 40-year engagement they were finally married in Canada in May 2007.
When Spyer died two years later, the federal government refused to recognize their marriage and assessed a $350,000 penalty on Windsor’s inheritance. Windsor filed a lawsuit, with the aid of the ACLU, challenging the constitutionality of DOMA, which was found to be unconstitutional on June 26.
Admission is free. For information, visit: www.stpauljcc.org.
Below is the trailer for the film:
