Laurel Hester and Gay Marriage

[piney]

I am curious to know how people who stand against gay marriage feel about this reversal. I know I am a bit late but I just watched a very powerful documentary about this and would like to know if everyone agrees with the reversal of the original ruling or if they support the original ruling.

I think this is something vital to the case for gay marriage..getting legally married would protect thousands and thousands of gay couples from having to fight for what hetero couples get without question.







[QUOTE]Lt. Laurel Hester (August 15, 1956 – February 18, 2006) was a [B]lesbian New Jersey police officer who rose to national attention with her deathbed appeal for the extension of pension benefits to domestic partners.[/B]

Laurel Hester was a [B]23-year veteran of the Ocean County prosecutor's office [/B]when she was struck down by rapidly spreading lung cancer. The cancer metastasized and spread to her brain, and it became clear that she had little time to live. Hester [B]lived with and jointly owned a house with her registered domestic partner[/B], Stacie Andree, who would not be able to afford mortgage payments upon Hester's death. [B]A married heterosexual with Hester's years of police service would be able able to pass on pension benefits to a spouse, but this privilege was not accorded to same-sex domestic partners in Ocean County.[/B]

Hester appealed to local authorities to change this policy, and was supported by the local Policemen's Benefit Association. Instead, in a private meeting on November 9, 2005, [B]the five Republican county freeholders voted against the proposal, with freeholder John P. Kelly arguing that it threatened "the sanctity of marriage." [/B]On November 23, a rally of between 100 and 200 supporters gathered to protest the county's inaction.

On January 18, 2006, an impassioned videotaped appeal by a weakening Hester from her hospital bed was shown at a meeting of the freeholders, who then met with county Republican leaders in a teleconference on January 20. The next day, [B]the freeholders announced that they were reversing their stance, and would meet on January 25 to extend pension benefits to registered domestic partners.[/B]

She died on February 18, 2006, aged 49, in her home in Point Pleasant, New Jersey.

Her battle was documented in the 2007 film, Freeheld, winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Short Documentary.[/QUOTE]

[Warfish]

Gay Civil Unions should be legal, and equal to the Civil Unions (i.e. Marriages) of Hetero couples. It's a civil contract, nothing more, and should be treated like any other mutual civil contract, i.e. any two consenting legal adults may enter into it.

[piney]

[QUOTE=Warfish;2599461]Gay Civil Unions should be legal, and equal to the Civil Unions (i.e. Marriages) of Hetero couples. It's a civil contract, nothing more, and should be treated like any other mutual civil contract, i.e. any two consenting legal adults may enter into it.[/QUOTE]

I wonder if the problem is that to define hetero and gay marriages differently opens them up to being treated differently.....

[Warfish]

[QUOTE=piney;2599464]I wonder if the problem is that to define hetero and gay marriages differently opens them up to being treated differently.....[/QUOTE]

They ARE different, and people have every right to treat them as such.

As long as the Government treats themn the same, regardless of what they call each one, is all that matters or should matter.

[piney]

[QUOTE=Warfish;2599791]They ARE different, and people have every right to treat them as such.

As long as the Government treats themn the same, regardless of what they call each one, is all that matters or should matter.[/QUOTE]

that was my point....

if they are determined separate can they be legislated separately, regardless of what you or I say, and obviously, in this case, there had to be a fight simply to get the same benefits as a hetero couple.....