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I ran the following Op-Ed this past Friday morning. In the past two and a half days my e-mail has been buried from people wanting more information, or to express outrage, or just to express support and decency. This story was also run on Bil Browning's Bilerico Project where it generated massive comments. The story has now gone viral.
For persons who don't clearly have an idea of the reality of the impact that not having full equal rights truly is, may this story serve as an example and more-so, justification for Gay marriage rights.
[Links to the National Centre for Lesbian Rights,The Bilerico Project, & The Human Rights Campaign can be found by visiting my webpage]
Friday, April 16, 2010
Brody's Scribbles... Greene v. County of Sonoma et al: Appalling Outrage Against Simple Human Dignity
By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Apr 16 | Perhaps the greatest impact affecting LGBT persons when President Barack Obama ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in hospital visitation, is that the new rule grants hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners, making it easier for LGBT people to make medical decisions on behalf of their partners. Sadly for some, it came too late as illustrated by this heart rendering legal action from the case files of the National Centre for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, California.
Calla Rongerude, the Director of Communications of the National Centre for Lesbian Rights, released the details of the following case this morning along with a statement from its Executive Director commenting on the President's Executive order.
Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place—wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.
One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold’s care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes.
Ignoring Clay’s significant role in Harold’s life, the county continued to treat Harold like he had no family and went to court seeking the power to make financial decisions on his behalf. Outrageously, the county represented to the judge that Clay was merely Harold’s “roommate.” The court denied their efforts, but did grant the county limited access to one of Harold’s bank accounts to pay for his care.
What happened next is even more chilling: without authority, without determining the value of Clay and Harold’s possessions accumulated over the course of their 20 years together or making any effort to determine which items belonged to whom, the county took everything Harold and Clay owned and auctioned off all of their belongings. Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Clay from his home and confined him to a nursing home against his will. The county workers then terminated Clay and Harold's lease and surrendered the home they had shared for many years to the landlord.
Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in the nursing home. Because of the county’s actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 20 years. Compounding this tragedy, Clay has literally nothing left of the home he had shared with Harold or the life he was living up until the day that Harold fell, because he has been unable to recover any of his property. The only memento Clay has is a photo album that Harold painstakingly put together for Clay during the last three months of his life.
With the help of a dedicated and persistent court-appointed attorney, Anne Dennis of Santa Rosa, Clay was finally released from the nursing home. Ms. Dennis, along with Stephen O'Neill and Margaret Flynn of Tarkington, O'Neill, Barrack & Chong, now represent Clay in a lawsuit against the county, the auction company, and the nursing home, with technical assistance from NCLR. A trial date has been set for July 16, 2010 in the Superior Court for the County of Sonoma.
A statement from Kate Kendell, Executive Director of the National Centre for Lesbian Rights:
"There is perhaps no more appalling and heartbreaking story we hear than when the partner of an LGBT person is barred from being at the side of their loved one in the midst of a tragedy or serious illness. In life’s most harrowing moments, loved ones are separated at the most critical time of need. Quite literally long-term partners have been sitting in excruciating fear and frustration in a waiting room while the love of their life dies alone in a hospital room. This action by the Obama administration will put an end to this inhumanity and assure that partners can be at the bedside of those they love."
Gay Senior Citizens Photo By Getty Images
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Appalling Outrage Against Simple Human Dignity 
