Our community has lost a giant today. Edie Windsor’s tenacious and tireless fight to ensure all LGBT Americans had the right to marry who they love will go down in history as a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights movement. We have always felt a certain pride that she was a New Yorker, representing the best of what this city and this state stand for.

Edie was a constant bright light, standing by LGBT people in every fight from the fight for adoption rights, to conversion therapy and more. Edie’s life was a story of hard work, intellectual rigor, resistance, commitment, and love. For decades, Edie worked tirelessly to build our movement. Right here in New York, her support of Hetrick-Martin Institute, Sage, and The LGBT Community Center among others, and numerous political efforts, made her a central figure. In recent years, her focus on LGBTQI youth brought her to rooms of educators and young people, engaging and energizing them with her enthusiasm, hope, and commitment.

Our hearts go to her many friends and admirers, but most especially to her wife, Judith Windsor, with whom she found new love and continued to march towards justice.

We will never have another Edie in our community, but, her spirit will live on in the millions she inspired to continue the fight. In Edie’s honor, we will continue to stand united until every LGBTQ person in this country is 100% equal under the eyes of the law.

Rest in power, Edie.