Philadelphia. Hester was 19 years older than Andree, and the two women soon fell in love. They ended up buying a house together in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, and registered their domestic partnership on October 28, 2004. At the time, same-sex marriage was not legal in the United States. Illness and death Hester was a Detective in the Ocean County prosecutor's office when she was diagnosed with rapidly spreading lung cancer. She died on February 18, 2006, aged 49, in the home she shared with her partner, Stacie Andree. Freeheld Laurel Hester's cancer metastasized, spread to her brain, and it became clear that she had little time to live. Hester lived with and jointly owned a house with her registered domestic partner, Stacie Andree, who would not be able to afford mortgage payments upon Hester's death. A married heterosexual with Hester's years of police service would be able to pass on pension benefits to a spouse, but this privilege was not afforded to same-sex domestic partners in Ocean County. Hester appealed to local authorities to change this policy, and was supported by the local Policemen's Benefit Association. Instead, in a private meeting on November 9, 2005, the five Republican members of the county board of chosen freeholders voted against the proposal, with freeholder John P. Kelly arguing that it threatened "the sanctity of marriage". On November 23, a rally of between 100 and 200 supporters gathered to protest the county's inaction. On January 18, 2006, an impassioned videotaped appeal by a weakening Hester from her hospital bed was shown at a meeting of the freeholders, who then met with county Republican leaders in a teleconference on January 20. The next day, the freeholders announced that they were reversing their stance, and would meet on January 25 to extend pension benefits to registered domestic partners, three weeks before Hester's death. Tributes Hester's battle for pension benefits was shown in Freeheld (2007), the winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) and the feature film Freeheld (2015), in which Hester is portrayed by Julianne Moore. The LEAGUE Foundation, which provides financial resources for American LGBT high school seniors entering their first year of institutions of higher learning, has awarded the Laurel Hester Memorial Scholarship annually since 2006. The Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) of New York awards the Laurel Hester Award. In February 2016, Stockton University's Board of Trustees presented