And Still They Danced

At tonight’s gala fundraiser marking the 30th anniversary of the NYC LGBT Community Center, the headlining honoree was DOMA plaintiff Edie Windsor. Upon taking the stage, Edie led us through her 42-year relationship with her late wife, Thea Spyer, starting with their closeted courtship and through the decades until their 2007 wedding in Toronto.

During her speech, Edie spoke of how even though her late wife’s MS progressively got worse, they continued to go dancing. When Thea first needed a cane, they danced.  When Thea worsened and needed a walker, they danced. Then came the day that Thea needed a wheelchair. And still they danced. The first time they wheelchair-danced was at a women’s party at the Limelight in 1982. That first wheelchair-dance song? Edie smiled. “It was a disco version of If My Friends Could See Me Now.”

For Edie and Thea.