Graph Legend
2 Events
1 People
1 Name
Bill Ert
Names
Bill Ert
Biography
Bill Ert was a female impersonator who used the stage name Mr. Vikki Karr. He and his partner Tony Molina legally married in Texas in October 1972 and were the first same-sex couple to do so in the state. The state refused to recognize their marriage certificate, and the Molinas began a lawsuit. The Molinas lost their legal battle and the marriage eventually led to state lawmakers rewriting marriage laws to be explicitly between "a man and a woman" in 1973. They moved to Toronto in 1973. In 1974 when Ert was hospitalized, Ontario Health Insurance Plan refused to pay any medical expenses because they were both men, but the OHIP and the couple eventually reached a compromise.
