Post by Logan on May 9, 2016 18:45:52 GMT -6
Ocean County Freeholder Director Jack Kelly's anti-gay stance in a decade-old public benefits case has come back to haunt him as he awaits state Senate confirmation to the New Jersey Parole Board.
Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, announced Monday that she would vote against Kelly's nomination to the Parole Board and cited Kelly's opposition in a high-profile pension benefits case involving same-sex partners. The senator said Kelly is not only unqualified to serve on the board, but she recalled his role in the notorious "Freeheld" case 10 years ago.
In the fall of 2005 and winter of 2006, Kelly sought to deny a terminally-ill detective in the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office the right to leave her pension to her same-sex partner. The county argued that it was not obligated to allow the transfer under the state domestic partnership law sponsored by Weinberg.
The story of Detective Lt. Laurel Hester's battle with the all-Republican freeholder board garnered national media attention and later became the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary short film, "Freeheld." Last year, that documentary was adapted into a feature film dramatization of the same name starring Julianne Moore as Hester and Ellen Page as her domestic partner, Stacie Andree.
Read more: www.app.com/story/news/investigations/watchdog/government/2016/05/09/kellys-anti-gay-stand-now-haunts-him/84147208/
Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, announced Monday that she would vote against Kelly's nomination to the Parole Board and cited Kelly's opposition in a high-profile pension benefits case involving same-sex partners. The senator said Kelly is not only unqualified to serve on the board, but she recalled his role in the notorious "Freeheld" case 10 years ago.
In the fall of 2005 and winter of 2006, Kelly sought to deny a terminally-ill detective in the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office the right to leave her pension to her same-sex partner. The county argued that it was not obligated to allow the transfer under the state domestic partnership law sponsored by Weinberg.
The story of Detective Lt. Laurel Hester's battle with the all-Republican freeholder board garnered national media attention and later became the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary short film, "Freeheld." Last year, that documentary was adapted into a feature film dramatization of the same name starring Julianne Moore as Hester and Ellen Page as her domestic partner, Stacie Andree.
Read more: www.app.com/story/news/investigations/watchdog/government/2016/05/09/kellys-anti-gay-stand-now-haunts-him/84147208/