Gay Officer, Dying,
Is Pulled Into Rights Issue
By DAMIEN CAVE,
NYTimes on the Web, November 24, 2005
POINT PLEASANT, N.J., Nov. 22
- The cancer in Laurel Hester's lungs keeps her voice to a whisper, so a noisy
public dispute over gay marriage was the last thing she wanted at the end of her
life.
She said she only sought to leave her longtime partner, Stacie Andree, the
pension she earned as an investigator with the Ocean County prosecutor's office
so Ms. Andree could keep their house.
"I'm not on a crusade," said Ms. Hester, a 23-year veteran who once headed the
county's narcotics division. "My concern is really that I don't have a lot
of time left, and Stacie would not be able to afford the mortgage without
assistance."
New Jersey law allows municipalities to extend domestic partner benefits to gay
and lesbian couples who work in local government. Dozens of New Jersey
towns and counties have opted to do so, but Ocean County has not addressed the
issue until Ms. Hester's case.
She first made her request to county officials last fall, soon after doctors
discovered her cancer. But only last week did Ocean County freeholders
respond. And after one board member, John P. Kelly, told The Asbury Park
Press that the board had denied Ms. Hester's request because it would violate
"the sanctity of marriage," she was reluctantly thrown into the glare of public
scrutiny.
[On Wednesday, dozens of police officers from across New Jersey and New York,
gay rights advocates, ministers and Representative Frank Pallone stood outside
the county's brick offices in Toms River to protest the freeholders' decision.]
At least three state lawmakers -- including Bonnie Watson Coleman, the
Democratic Party chairwoman -- have issued statements denouncing Ocean County,
saying it is defying the spirit of New Jersey law.
Though Ms. Hester, 49, says she has no interest in marriage herself, her case
has nonetheless come to be seen as a powerful weapon in the war over gay unions.
"There is a bigger context here," said Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden
State Equality, a New Jersey gay rights group. "This only helps the cause
of gay marriage because people are seeing that half-steps like civil unions are
not providing people with real protection."
The county's five freeholders declined requests for interviews. They
issued a joint statement this week that made no reference to marriage but cited
"cost considerations" as the primary reason for their decision.
Len Deo, president of the Family Policy Council, which opposed the state's
domestic partnership law, said that if the state wanted to extend those benefits
to gay and lesbian partners, it should have provided money for that purpose.
But Ms. Hester's fellow officers say they doubt that money is the real concern.
Ms. Hester, a lieutenant who is now on sick leave, is not requesting health care
benefits, said Kevin Schaal, president of the county Police Benevolent
Association. She simply wants to leave Ms. Andree the $30,000-a-year
pension that would be paid out by the state.
"I'm at a loss for why they would say it's a financial matter when it is not,"
Mr. Schaal said.
The two women see moral opposition to homosexuality as the real reason.
They had tried to avoid stirring up a debate, enlisting the prosecutor, Thomas
Kelaher, and the chief of investigations, Daniel Mahony, who privately
approached county officials about the situation last fall.
In May, Ms. Hester's doctors told her that the cancer in her lungs was invading
the rest of her lanky body, giving her only months to live. In June, Mr.
Schaal sent a formal request from the police union to the freeholders.
"Due to the illness of Lieutenant Hester," Mr. Schaal wrote, "time is of the
essence."
Months went by without a response. Frustrated and growing weak from
chemotherapy, Ms. Hester spoke up publicly for the first time at a freeholders
meeting in October. The news media swarmed.
Her story has since appeared on several television stations and in The
Star-Ledger, the state's largest newspaper. Finally, last Friday, the
county administrator, Alan W. Avery Jr., sent her a letter, saying that the
freeholders had denied her request.
"It is important to note that the board is considering this as a personnel
policy matter that applies to all county employees and it is not about any
individual employee," he wrote.
At their renovated 1970's ranch house, Ms. Hester and Ms. Andree are hoping to
overturn the decision, even if they are ambivalent about the attention.
They appreciate the daily calls from lawyers offering free help. But at
times, the cause seems to have dwarfed them. A schedule for Wednesday's
rally said that Ms. Hester would speak, even though, as of Tuesday, no one had
asked her. They seem anxious to move on, to be seen as a couple, not a
test case.
Ms. Andree, 30, a mechanic, seems particularly uncomfortable in the spotlight.
Her eyes avoid the cameras, and she says she wished she could pay the mortgage
herself. "I've always been a quiet person," Ms. Andree said. "But
what's fair is fair. It's her money and she should be able to say where it
goes."
For her part, Ms. Hester said she preferred to talk about her old cases,
including a double homicide in the late 1980's. With a cough, she
whispered that she hoped the dispute would be resolved before a last-hurrah trip
to St. Maarten next month with Ms. Andree and their families.
"I'm not looking for marriage, and I'm not looking to be a poster girl," she
said, holding a police-badge pendant hanging from her neck. "I just want
the same rights as people who are in a heterosexual relationship."
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