Obama makes hospitals allow gay visitation rights

[jgoetz]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama issued a memo on Thursday that would require hospitals accepting Medicare or Medicaid funds to allow visitation rights to gay and lesbian partners.

Obama asked the Secretary of Health and Human Services to set up rules to make sure all hospitals that participate in the government-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs respect the rights of patients to designate who may visit them.

See the rest at the link below.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100416/hl_nm/us_obama_gays_2

[HELENz]

I just read that earlier. Posted it on my FaceBook, matter of fact! W00t! GO OBAMA!

[antiochian]

This was long overdue. Wonderful news!

[BruceChris]

Barney Frank says, in the Advocate, that if we want to see some progress on DADT, ENDA, or DOMA we should start calling our congressional representatives and our senators.

SO LETS GET OUT THERE AND CALL!

Peace and Love, BruceChris

[HELENz]

You have a point, and contacting our senators about these laws is a good idea. They're our representatives; we elected them; they need to hear what we have to say. However, change won't happen overnight, and I expect it to truly take a few years.

But, if we are persistent, and work not just at the legal level, but the social level as well (talking and engaging, SoulForce), we will gradually gain support from more Americans for ending this discrimination!

Already, more of the younger generation (although it doesn't seem like that at my school) is coming to the conclusion that LGBT people have nothing wrong with them and deserve equal rights - that their unions are just as loving as any heterosexual couple's and that there is NO difference between them. We are simply people.

[Tallit]

I like what this woman says at the end, "we're fighting for our rights one milimeter at a time", I agree totally!
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2010/04/17/lee.gay.hospital.visitation.cnn?hpt=C2