Meet the Catholic activists who spearheaded the DOMA fight.

Their organization, Dignity, was officially expelled from the Catholic Church by Ratzinger, but millions of individual Dignity members are valued and participating members of their parishes.

From the National Catholic Reporter:

http://ncronline.org/blogs/grace-margins/catholic-activists-behind-supreme-court-doma-fight

"’If Thea had been Theo, I would not have had to pay those taxes,’ (Edie) Windsor told the press. She sought legal help from a prominent gay rights organization, who turned her away, insisting it was "the wrong time to act."

“Hearing this news, Fay was indignant. After Mass one evening, he enlisted the help of fellow Dignity members Edward DeBonis and Vincent Maniscalco, who have been married since 2002. (Theirs was the first Catholic same-sex wedding announced in The New York Times.) DeBonis, an attorney, immediately thought of Kaplan, whom they had watched argue the 2004 marriage suit filed by 13 couples before the New York State Court of Appeals.

“‘Robbie was compelling,’ DeBonis recalls, ‘and she and her partner, Rachel Lavine, have been passionate about the marriage equality issue for many years.’

“He called Edie that night, and soon after called Robbie, who met with Edie the next day. ‘And the rest is gay history, we hope.’"