Hill Screening of Academy Award winning documentary film, “Freeheld,”
by director Cynthia Wade

September 23, 2008

Caucus Co-Chairs, Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Barney Frank (D-MA), along with Vice Chair Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Caucus Member Christopher Shays (R-CT), sponsored a screening of the Academy Award winning documentary film, “Freeheld”.

Detective Lieutenant Laurel Hester spent 25 years investigating tough cases in Ocean County, New Jersey, protecting the rights of victims and putting her life on the line. She had no reason to expect that in the last year of her life, after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, that her final battle for justice would be for the woman she loved.

The 38-minute documentary film “Freeheld” chronicles Laurel’s struggle to transfer her earned pension to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree. With less than six months to live, Laurel refuses to back down when her elected officials – the Ocean County Freeholders – deny her request to leave her pension to Stacie, an automatic option for heterosexual married couples.

You can see pictures from the screening below. For more information about the film, visit: www.freeheld.com.

Rep. Tammy Baldwin speaks before the screening of the Academy Award winning documentary, “Freeheld.”