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One thing that continually amazes and worries me is that even my liberal friends do not understand how gays and lesbians are second-class citizens in this country.
Pam’s House Blend has very kindly linked to reports about Laurel Hester.The New Jersey police officer has terminal cancer and has been reduced to begging local officials to allow her to leave her pension to her life partner. The officials -- five conservative “pro-family” Republicans -- have refused. Apparently, they’ve been refusing for months, and now Hester is near death.
This is happening in a relatively liberal state where state law allows local officials to give pensions to domestic partners. These fellows won’t do it, though, and have told her they have no plans to change her position before she dies. It would violate the sanctity of marriage, they claim. Marriage will be destroyed if one person who served her community gets justice? I guess I just don’t understand.
UPDATE
More media coverage:
Grant Employee Her Dying Wish
Gay Rights Groups to Focus on Elections
County Benefits go to Gay Workers – A different New Jersey county commission recognizes the basic fairness of treating people equally.
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