President Obama is slowly restoring my faith in him. With his extension of health care right's to gay partners, I have breathed more than one sigh of gratefulness and relief on behalf of all LGBT couples, myself and my partner included.
I wish desperately that it could have been much earlier for Clay and Harold, an elderly gay couple that resided in California. Their story is so horribly tragic that is shows without question why the war for equal rights for all LBGT and their partners is so vitally important.
Harold and Clay had been together 20 years. This is their story as taken from Dan Savage of SLOG News and Arts:
Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place—wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.
One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold’s care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes. Ignoring Clay’s significant role in Harold’s life, the county continued to treat Harold like he had no family and went to court seeking the power to make financial decisions on his behalf. Outrageously, the county represented to the judge that Clay was merely Harold’s “roommate.” The court denied their efforts, but did grant the county limited access to one of Harold’s bank accounts to pay for his care.
What happened next is even more chilling: without authority, without determining the value of Clay and Harold’s possessions accumulated over the course of their 20 years together or making any effort to determine which items belonged to whom, the county took everything Harold and Clay owned and auctioned off all of their belongings. Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Clay from his home and confined him to a nursing home against his will. The county workers then terminated Clay and Harold's lease and surrendered the home they had shared for many years to the landlord.
Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in the nursing home. Because of the county’s actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 20 years. Compounding this tragedy, Clay has literally nothing left of the home he had shared with Harold or the life he was living up until the day that Harold fell, because he has been unable to recover any of his property.
Clay is now suing the county, the auction company, and the nursing home. This story should get as much attention as Constance McMillen's story. More attention. There should be protests outside the hospital and county administration buildings. And I think another phone call from the president is called for.
This story is heart-wrenching in the extreme. And sadly, this story has happened over and over and over again to gay and lesbian couples because their rights were not recognized. Basic rights that every human being should have ... irregardless of race, color or creed ... or sexual orientation.
Thank you to President Obama, on behalf of all of us.
And to Clay? I am so deeply, deeply sorry for the heartache and injustice that you and Harold were forced to endure simply because you were both so very courageous enough to love one another. God Bless You and keep you safe.
Equality, Justice and Compassion. Because We Are All One...
Until next time...
Love and Light To You All,
LadiofZen
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