Note: Margaret is currently on vacation from the country and her computer. She has asked us to fill in in the interim, with stories and blogs that fans are emailing her about.
This first post is about Laurel Hester. If you don’t know her name, you should. Her story is a lesson in “Compassionate Conservatism.”
From Salon today: A Gay Cop with Six Months to Live is Denied Partner Benefits:
After 23 years of service as an investigator in the Ocean County, N.J., prosecutor’s office, Lt. Laurel Hester is dying of lung cancer. She would like her partner, Stacie Andree, to get her pension benefits.
The Ocean County Board of Freeholders would like Hester to get lost. The freeholders, the all-Republican governing body that sounds, and acts, like something out of the “Scarlet Letter,” have denied her request for domestic partner benefits. Something about how it would “cost too much.” Oh, and something about the “sanctity of marriage.”
The Republic of T has featured extensive coverage on Laurel’s Story and this post includes contact info for the Ocean County Board of Freeholders. Please, drop them a line.
The Big Gay Picture has an interview series up with Laurel Hester
From Pandagon: Laurel Hester, Standing Tall