Equal rights

Tim Miller alerted me to a story out there about a new play inspired by angry, anti-gay comments on a newspaper's website. I'm a little dubious of the (as-yet-unproduced-but-soon-to-be-produced) play, based solely on the fact that it calls for people to wander around onstage with typewriters strapped to their chests, calling out the comments themselves, but it did prompt this piece of writing on equal rights for gays and lesbians.

There's an issue that strikes me as being something of a moral trump card for gay marriage: hospital rights. Which is to say, the right to sit next to your spouse while they're in the hospital in a coma, or just after they've undergone surgery, or are dying. Hetero husbands and wives have the unquestioned right to do this. Gays and lesbians do not, and are frequently denied that right. Those on the right-wing are often shocked to hear this or try to deny that it happens; here are three links to prove that yes, it really does happen:

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t43285.html

http://www.examiner.com/x-4107-Gay--Lesbian-Issues-Examiner~y2009m6d2-EXCLUSIVE--California-lesbian-couple-allege-discrimination-at-Fresno-hospital

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/02/lesbian-fights-for-hospital-visitation-rights-in-miami-court.html

And then there's a remarkable, heartbreaking diary on dailykos.com about a diarist who was not permitted to sit next to his partner.

Now, one could pass a "hospital visitation rights bill" making civil unions legal in all the states that don't have them yet, but there would be court challenges galore, because civil unions do not have an already-in-place legal framework backed by precedent and because there are often parents who are angry enough at their son or daughter's orientation to sue. Oh, and they still get thrown out of hospitals, despite the fact that it's ILLEGAL:
http://sesw.blogspot.com/2009/04/oregon-man-thrown-out-of-partners.html

Easier, I think, to just grant gays & lesbians the right to marry.

So, the next time you encounter a conservative blathering on about "special rights" (although they've mostly dropped that one) or claiming they've got gay friends, ask them where they stand on hospital rights.