Aggression/Progression?

I want to briefly discuss two events that occurred in the past 5 years in Lexington, Massachusetts.  First, a couple short years ago, in Lexington, at Estabrook, the elementary school that I can see from my backyard, the very school that I attended when I was a wee child, a very controversial issue and event occurred.  A second grade teacher read the children’s book, “King & King.”  In this book, the prince marries another prince, instead of the princess.  A mother of one of the students in the class was outraged, claiming “by presenting this kind of issue at such a young age, they’re trying to indoctrinate our children.  They’re intentionally presenting this as a norm, and it’s not a value that our family supports.”  The Superintendent said that the school was not legally obligated to notify all parents about the book and said “we couldn’t run a public school system if every parent who feels some topic is objectionable to them for moral or religious reasons decides their child should be removed…Lexington is committed to teaching children about the world they live in, and in Massachusetts same-sex marriage is legal.” 

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it’s beyond gay rights, it’s human rights!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041505502.html

President Obama recently passed a new bill, extending hospital visiting rights to same-sex partners, which is said to be a huge breakthrough for gay rights.  This issue received much attention from President Obama after the tragic story of a couple reached his desk.  Janice and Lisa were partners of 17 years and adopted children together.  Lisa collapsed on a cruise ship in Miami and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where her partner was not granted visitation rights in the hospital room.  Lisa faded into a coma and Janice still, was not allowed to see her partner.  Janice presented power of attorney papers, the whole nine yards and still had to wait eight hours to see her lover.

“Discrimination touches every facet of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, including at times of crisis and illness, when we need our loved ones with us more than ever,” Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement praising the president’s decision.

This story outraged President Obama who issued a medical mandate that hospitals must respect the rights of patients to designate visitors. These patients also are granted the right to choose the people who will make medical decisions on their behalf.  In the memo, Obama said hospitals should not be able to deny visitation privileges on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Why has it taken so long for someone to pass this?  Shouldn’t every person have the right to have a loved one by their side in times of ailment and life or death matters!  It was in place that only family members and marital spouses had hospital visitation rights and could make life decisions on behalf of their loved ones.   It is such a shame to be barred from the bedside of your partner who is fighting for his or her life.  The problem that I see here is that the memorandum poses potential conflicts between hospital staff and same-sex partners over life or death decisions.  This could also serve to undermine to same sex marriage, since marriage is so important in health and legal decisions.  If hospitals acknowledge visitation rights to same sex couples in the medical field, why can’t we acknowledge their marital commitment to one another?  Janice’s plea was simply, “I kept saying it’s not a gay right to hold someone’s hand when they die, its a human right,”

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