When we deprive our fellow citizens of the legal privileges of marriage, we are acting ungenerously, and for no good reason other than to feel entitled, better than a historically disfavored group of people.

This is the story of two couples; two couples who come out of the same post-war generation, and who built their lives around the same emotional core of love, commitment, and devotion to one another. And yet, their relationships were marked very differently by history and by the laws that governed their lives.

Last week, as we were preparing to hit "send" on our income tax returns, we thought that maybe, just maybe, this year will be the last that legally married lesbian and gay couples will have to lie to the federal government about the nature of their relationships and file their taxes as single people.

Edie Windsor's refusal to pay a tax from which a straight person would have been exempt seems stirringly similar to Rosa Parks' refusal to get out of a seat in which a white person would have been able to stay. When I'm a very old gay man, I'll be able to look back and say, "It all started with Edie, and I was there."

"Which side of history will you choose?" The Supreme Court's answer to that question will be seismic, but the American people's answer is pouring in and they are rushing to choose equal rights over traditional bigotry.

My 61st birthday was on the Sunday before the two days of oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court in the Prop 8 and DOMA cases, which will determine whether or not my life as an American citizen qualifies for equal rights under the law.

In debating what justice and equality for LGBTQ communities looks like, how historic this moment is, and what other historic accomplishments are yet to be had, it's important for us to consciously support all types of relationships (married or not) and all forms of justice.

Because of the justices' skepticism regarding BLAG lawyer Paul Clement's arguments in favor of DOMA, it seems quite likely that there are at least five votes on the court to invalidate it, especially if such a decision were based on issues of federalism rather than on an equal protection question.

Liberty and equality are not the same, and while the Supreme Court could reach for either legal principle in a ruling declaring Prop 8 unconstitutional, the principle that it ends up choosing could matter a great deal.

NEW YORK -- At age 83, Edith Windsor gets plenty of compliments for her courage to take on the federal government in a landmark case that has put atti...

On Monday a coalition of organizations sent a letter to President Obama urging the administration to hold, rather than deny, applications from same-sex binational couples for lawful permanent residence that would be approvable but for DOMA, pending a decision from the Supreme Court.

Although this is ostensibly a legal case, it is really about competing narratives -- and there is nothing same-sex marriage opponents offer that comes close to the touching tale of Edie Windsor and her deceased wife, Thea Spyer. This case screams out for fair resolution.

Edith "Edie" Windsor, who is 83 years old, spent Friday afternoon in a conference room at her lawyers' offices in Manhattan waiting to hear whether or...