Posts Tagged gay rights
Lamda Legal Argues Same-Sex Hospital Visitation Lawsuit
Miami Hospital Tries To Block Lawsuit In Hospital Visitation Case
It’s hard to believe that in this day a hospital will block someone from seeing their partner, especially when all of the medical powers of attorney paperwork are in place and properly signed and notarized. It’s harder still to believe that such a hospital would continue to defend its inhuman policies.
The case began in February 2007, when Janice Langbehn and her partner Lisa Marie Pond, with three of their four children, were in Miami, Florida preparing for a cruise to celebrate their eighteenth anniversary. But before the cruise could leave port, Lisa Marie suffered a massive stroke and was taken to Jackson Memorial. Hospital personnel refused to let Langbehn into Pond’s hospital room, even after a legal power of attorney was faxed to the hospital. Pond was pronounced dead of a brain aneurysm about eighteen hours after being admitted to the hospital. The only time Langbehn was allowed to see her partner was when a priest was giving her last rites.
February 9, 2009
MERI APPLAUDS FORMER U.S. REP. BOB BARR
(Cranston, RI) Now that the author of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has reversed his opinion, Marriage Equality RI calls for this discriminatory law to be repealed.
The former U.S. Rep from Georgia and 2008 Libertarian party’s nominee for President has come to realize that the intention of his legislation in 1996, which was to meet principles of federalism, never materialized. Federalism calls for federal, state and local governments to interact cooperatively and collectively to solve common problems, rather than creating policies separately or clashing over a policy in a system dominated by the federal government.
In Barr’s LA Times editorial (January 5, 2009), he stated, “In effect, DOMA’s language reflects one-way federalism: It protects only those states that don’t want to accept a same-sex marriage granted by another state. Moreover, the heterosexual definition of marriage for purposes of federal laws… has become a de facto club used to limit, if not thwart, the ability of a state to choose to recognize same-sex unions… It is time to get the federal government out of the marriage business. In law and policy, such decisions should be left to the people themselves.”
Barr also echoes President-elect Obama’s 2006 vote against the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (also referred to as the Marriage Protection Amendment), which defines marriage as union of one man and one woman. Barr further stated, “He (Obama) was right then; and as I have come to realize, he is right now in concluding that DOMA has to go.”
“The federal DOMA has long been an unfair strangler of state’s rights and Marriage Equality RI calls on Congress to repeal this law,” said Susan Heroux, MERI Board Chair. “This law has a direct negative effect on married same-sex couples living and working in RI who are forced to take actions such as filing their taxes under the single category… This law causes a legal nightmare for those of us who are married because our marriages are recognized on the state level but not the federal level. DOMA has always been used to discriminate against gay people and it is time for it to go.”
Recently re-elected Rep. Frank Ferri, the first openly gay, married R.I. state legislator commented, “DOMA’s purpose was to directly prevent U.S. citizens from their inalienable rights guaranteed by the constitution. Fortunately the backers of this legislation are now realizing the damage that such laws have on the foundation of our great nation. “
Hans Johnson, President of Progressive Victory and a contributing editor to In These Times magazine, recently noted, “Conservative opposition to marriage equality continues to crumble. The ferocity of extremists who insist on intruding into the lives of committed same-sex couples and denying basic equality to gay people is turning some true conservatives into allies.”
January 19, 2009
Good reasons to support, none to oppose
Bob Kerr has a nice piece in today’s Providence Journal about David Gergen’s appearance at Roger Williams University and his comment on marriage equality.
And he [Gergen] thinks full rights for gays is something that has to happen because it is the right thing. He told the large audience in Bristol that it is the new civil rights struggle.
It remains a very simple proposition: Approve gay marriage and all the rights that go with it and make life better for tens of thousands of people — and do absolutely no harm to heterosexual marriage or the social fabric of a community.
2 comments November 19, 2008
Breaking News: Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill Passed!
In an historic step toward equality for GLBT Americans, the U.S. Senate voted today to pass the Matthew Shepard Act.
It confers authority on the federal government to investigate and prosecute crimes committed against victims solely because of their real or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability when local officials are unwilling or unable to do so. It also expands existing federal hate crimes law to improve prosecution of bias-motivated crimes based on race, religious, national origin and color and provides additional resources to local law enforcement prosecuting vicious crimes. The Senate in a bipartisan vote of 60 to 39 accepted cloture which ended debate on the bill and then moved to approve the Matthew Shepard Act by a voice vote — attaching it as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008 Department of Defense Authorization bill. I haven’t seen the roll call vote yet, but I’m sure Rhode Island Senators Whitehouse and Reed supported this bill.
They will join Representatives Kennedy and Langevin, who were strong and vocal supporters of the House of Representative’s companion Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1592), passed with a strong bipartisan margin of 237 to 180.
The bill still has to make it through the reconciliation process, where the House and Senate get together to iron out the differences between their legislation, and faces the threat of a Presidential veto. But nonetheless this is an historic day.
September 27, 2007
