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A Thursday benefit for New Jersey-based civil rights organization Garden State Equality turned into more of a celebration of the state’s recent ruling to allow same-sex marriages.

The event, a reception held at Watermark followed by a film screening of the documentary film “Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement,” at Porta, brought about 150 members of the public and several gay rights organizations together to meet Edith Windsor [above, center, with Porta owners Meg Brunette and Kyle Lepree]. Windsor’s lawsuit against the United States government led to a landmark Supreme Court decision that the federal government could not deny same-sex married couples the same benefits it gives to heterosexual married couples.

“Edie & Thea” chronicles the relationship between Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer, two women who met, fell in love and became engaged in the ’60s, before it was socially acceptable to date a member of the same sex, let alone be engaged to one. They were married in Canada in 2007, after a 42-year engagement.

The film was released in 2009. Spyer passed away that same year and left her estate to Windsor, who was forced to pay nearly $400,000 in estate taxes despite her claim that she was exempt because she was Spyer’s legal spouse.  Windsor paid the taxes and filed an appeal, becoming the plaintiff in the case that led the Supreme Court to strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA]. The Supreme Court ruled that given Windsor’s valid marriage in New York state, she could not be denied the same federal estate tax exemption that heterosexual couples received.

Filmmakers Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir have been making documentary films about LGBT and women’s issues for 15 years. They met Syper and Windsor by coincidence and were drawn to tell the story of two New York women’s strong desire to wed despite the fact that Spyer suffered from a major illness and was a quadriplegic.

“We just fell in love with them,” said Muska.

“They are not actors they are real people—and feisty. You need good characters if you’re going to make a good film,” said Olafsdottir. “The beauty about Edie & Thea is it’s a love story, and people can relate to that.”

Before DOMA was struck down, same-sex marriage rights were just “a patchwork of state’s rights but no federal rights,” said Cathy Renna, Windsor’s publicist. “The case completely changed the landscape.”

“I’ve been involved in [the LGBT] community for four decades and I’ve never seen someone do more for this community than Edie Windsor,” said civil rights activist and best-selling author David Mixner.

“It’s different,” Windsor said. Even after a decades long engagement “there is some sort of profundity to [a relationship] with a ring on. You just wake up the next morning and you feel different.”

Following the state Supreme Court’s Oct. 18 decision to deny Governor Christie’s motion for a stay  on Judge Mary C. Jacobson’s Sept. 27 ruling which granted same-sex couples the right to wed starting Oct. 21, the Christie administration decided to drop their appeal of the case that same day, making same-sex marriages in the Garden State legal once and for all.

“We didn’t know the outcome was going to be this week so it’s really more of a celebration,” said local restaurateur Marilyn Schlossbach, who helped organize the event.

“It’s almost anti-climactic,” said Luanne Peterpaul, Garden State Equality board chair.

Penelope “Penny” Dara Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton were among the guests that attended the reception and screening. The two were the first gay couple to be married in West Point Chapel in New York. Fulton was also seminal in the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Gnesin, a choir director, said her choir has three gay weddings booked for this weekend.

“It’s such a blessing to live during this time an to see how far we have come and to be a part a of the struggle,” said Fulton. “I think this is the American story. It’s the story of people earning their rights as citizens.”

“It’s why marriage means that more to us—because we never thought we would have it,” Windor said.

Representatives from Garden State Equality believe same-sex marriage efforts throughout the country will begin to snowball now that both New York and New Jersey have passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry.

“People are intrigued with the personalities here, [they] are just so large,” said Peterpaul.

Same-sex couple and event organizers Lepree and Brunette, who are partners in several business ventures in the city and have plans to wed soon, didn’t think the decision would come so soon but agree other states may quickly follow suit.

“Because the New Jersey court decided the case with no restrictions—that is why it will spread so fast,” said Lepree. “People [around the country] look to New York and New Jersey to set precedents.”

“It’s 2013,” said Olafsdottir. “America is so behind the ball.”

For Garden State Equality political consultant Jay Lassiter, the honeymoon period for New Jersey same-sex marriage rights has already passed. Friends and family members keep asking him when he is going to get married to his long-term partner.

“It’s an obnoxious, nosy question,” said Lassiter. “I’m over it.”

For event organizer and Watermark owner Russell Lewis, while getting married may now afford he and his long-term partner plenty of advantages, like estate tax exemption and access to their spouse’s health benefits, his accountant has told them it’s fiscally irresponsible at the moment. The two own several properties and, come tax season, they will be better off if their assets aren’t combined just yet, Lewis said.

Now that the New Jersey fight is over, advocacy groups within the state will take their campaign to other states that do not yet recognize same-sex civil marriages, while others plan to focus their efforts on anti-bullying issues.

“Our movement is just going and growing everyday,” said Troy Stevenson, executive director of Garden State Equality. “We just beat the most powerful Republican governor in the country. We’re taking the momentum on the road next door to Pennsylvania. They have no legal protections. The fight doesn’t end.”

Christian Fuscarino, founder of The Pride Network, focuses on leadership development for young adults in the LGBT community.

“What you are going to see now is a shift in focus from marriage equality rights to cultivating leadership in young adults withing the LGBT community,” he said.

“We’re working on transgender rights and safe schools as well as discrimination cases that come before us every day,” said Stevenson. “It doesn’t end.”

Click here to see a Sun Facebook photo album of the event.

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