Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Freeheld

Lieutenant Laurel Hester was a police officer in Ocean County, New Jersey, for almost 25 years. Last year, she died of lung cancer. Before she died, she fought for the right to leave her pension to her life partner Stacie. At the time, New Jersey law permitted but did not require counties to offer pension and other benefits to domestic partners, but Ocean County resisted granting them. Freeheld, so called because the elected officials of the county are called Freeholders, is a moving portrait of one small but powerfully symbolic piece of the struggle for equality. Highly recommended.

Freeheld, dir. Cynthia Wade, 2007 USA, 38 min.

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