Today in That Hopey Changey Stuff
I have to say, Obama seems to be holding firm on extending human rights to the LGBT community. His decency is all the more heartening when you consider how rabid those opposing them are.
The President's latest move took the form of a memo forbidding any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding from the thoroughly inhuman practice of barring same-sex partners from visiting their loved ones, and compelling them to respect the wishes of all people who designate a partner to make medical decisions for them if they're incapacitated.
As many commentators have noted, this is not a gay right, it's a human right. It's appalling that individuals on hospital staffs have abused their authority, making end-of-life decisions for others based on their own prejudices. To refuse to allow an individual who is about to die to see his or her partner is a moral outrage.
The case that inspired Obama's memo actually occurred in '07 in Florida, and has been in and out of court ever since. In '09, a federal court tossed a suit against the hospital. In the interveneing years Florida voters approved an amendment to the state constitution denying visitation rights to gays and lesbians, etching inhumanity into the bedrock of their state constitution.
In the face of that chain of wrongs, President Obama has done something simple, decent, and good. I'm liking this hopey, changey stuff.
The delayed action on DOMA and DADT is no less wrong but it is encouraging that he has given, at last and at least, an order to his cabinet to prevent hospitals withholding this human decency from anyone.
So many people have anger about Obama's centrism on LGBT issues that they are not able to believe he is doing what he is able to do. It is so galling that anyone should have to feel gratitude for a simple humane policy like this but that seems to be where we are.
That's why I am impressed and glad that you are able to give him credit for this. It isn't everything, but it surely isn't nothing.
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Hello Mike,
I completely agree with your entry. This is a no-brainer and the more it riles up right-wing wackos - the more it creates daylight between them and the rest of the country. It is one thing for someone to be conservative (my parents fall into this category). It is quite another thing to be lumped together with some of these right-wing cuckoos. The more these crazies hi-jack the Republican party - the more they will ultimately alienate the general population. Fortunately few like to be labeled a wacko or worse, a bigot. Whatever a person's private feelings might be - they are a lot less likely to support a group that they feel are arguing the side of "God" or their "Religion" at least that has been my experience.
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