A lesbian couple slapped their Upper West Side landlord with a lawsuit for refusing to recognize their same-sex marriage in a new lease agreement.
Social worker Dava Weinstein, 68, and nurse Dorothy Calvini, 64, have been together for 37 years. They married in Iowa in 2011.
The women have lived in a rent-stabilized unit at 315 W. 86th Street since 1977, but only Weinstein’s name was on the lease.
After getting hitched they tried to add Calvini’s name to the lease in January to secure her housing rights in case her wife passed away.
But the landlord, Weinreb Management, said in a letter that “New York State does not recognize Dorothy as Dava’s spouse,” according to the Manhattan civil suit.
“We had just assumed that would be a formality,” Weinstein told the Post.
“Hopefully I’ll live a long, healthy life, but the point is that it should be a non-issue,” she said.
The couple married in Iowa following a pact they’d made years earlier—to wed as soon as New York State approved same sex marriages or on their 35th anniversary, whichever came first.
Ironically Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Marriage Equality Act into law a few months after the two said “I do” in Iowa.
Weinstein even emailed her landlord a link to information about the Marriage Equality Act, the court papers say.
When the landlords still refused to budge the couple decided to sue.
“You know, I’m a very low profile person,” Weinstein said. “I’d just as soon not be a flag bearer, but this is important. The law states so clearly this situation, this right.
“There needs to be something that holds landlords in general and this landlord accountable,” Weinstein added. “If we can serve that function, we’re glad to do it.”
The couple is represented by the gay rights group, Lambda Legal, which has battled building owners in similar housing cases over the years.
The landlords did not immediately respond to calls for comment.