Monsters

Got it in one.

This is, in fact, one of the primary reasons my husband and I got married as soon as it was legal. Hopefully neither of us will have a heart attack or stroke any time soon, but we are getting older and you never know.

It was crazy-making for a time after we got married. Like the lesbian couple visiting Florida, we had all our legal documents, wills, powers of attorney, etc., all properly filed. But we have friends and relatives in different states (and countries). Depending on where we were visiting, or even driving, our marriage might be recognized in one state but not in another, recognized where we were in the morning, but not at lunch time, and back again by evening.

It was such a relief when the Supreme Court ruled on marriage equality. Now our legal marriage is recognized where ever we happen to be. I no longer have to worry about having a heart attack and having my husband being left out on the sidewalk because some asshole won't recognize our relationship.

Fuck every one of those republicans who want to tear that all up.

Those of you so eager to forgive Caitlyn Jenner and anoint her as the face of trans people, don't forget: She votes for those monsters and assholes. She's on their side, not yours.

Heartbreaking that anyone could treat another human being with such disregard. Especially someone going through what Janice Langbehn & their children were going through.

Never again. Or it WILL have to be over my dead body.

when marriage equality passed in 2012 in Washington, i urged my downstairs neighbors to get married in case anything happened and some fundy bigots came out of the woodwork to mess things up. they did, and when one of them died last fall, the surviving husband did not have any legal problems at all. marriage: it's not just weddings and love.

My husband and I make a pont of referring to each other as "my husband" at every possible opportunity. Occasionally that is very confusing to a loan officer, a TSA agent, or a plumber, but that is precisely why we do it. People will not learn that same-sex marriage is a real thing if they never encounter it.

If a hospital is accredited and accepts Medicare payments (all do), they are required by law to have a compliance officer on call day and night. If you are denied access to your spouse, demand the staff get that compliance officer to you. If they don't they could risk loosing accreditation.

@8: you're as wrong as it's possible to be, and the law backs me (and everyone else here, other than you) up on that. Your personal opinion of what marriage is doesn't count for squat. I'm sorry that you can't accept that the nation has changed for the better regarding marriage equality, but it has, and there's no going back. Go ahead and stick your fingers in your ears and your head in the sand, but my marriage to my husband is just as legal and real as anyone else's.

@8, u mad bro?

@8

I hate to break this to you, but do you know who defines what marriage actually is? The people involved, society, and the government. The government has decided that marriage is between two consenting adults, regardless of gender. The majority of society has agreed according to EVERY reputable (aka non-Heritage Foundation/AFA/NOM/FotF) poll available. So all that ever remains is the agreement of the two people deciding to get married.

Where are you in that equation? Nowhere. Because your opinion on the matter ceased to be relevant the INSTANT the ticker moved to 50.000000000001% approval by our society, and that happened quite a long while back.

Know what else is missing in that equation? The opinion of whatever mythical sky fairy/imaginary friend you might believe in. Their input is as relevant as yours - as in, not at all.

You're welcome to continue pouting about the fact that the government will no longer sanction your bigotry... but honestly, it's really time to move on to some new "I don't like it so no one can do it" crusade. The marriage equality question was settled by the ONLY ABSOLUTE highest authority we have in this nation - the SCOTUS. Nothing you think or believe or want can ever overrule that.

Sucks to be you.

@8 Marriage is a social and legal construct. It has changed vastly over the centuries, and the changes have come faster and faster, even in my lifetime. It doesn't matter to me if two men get married, if two women get married, if a man and a woman marry. If they love each other and want to build a life together, they should be able to. The story of the man concerned for his critically ill spouse and that of the woman who was treated as a second-class citizen while her wife was dying is exactly why people fought for marriage equality.

Against same-sex marriage? Don't have one!

@8 is trolling. Don't respond, report as such.

Didn't that troll promise on his great grandfather's grave, that he'd never ever ever return here?
No way will they get to repeal this Law, and they know it. The response from many Americans and others around the world would be deafening if they tried.
Just waiting, waiting, for Australia to catch up.

This really resonates with me. I just today checked my partner into the hospital. Not surprising as he's been bedridden for four years. We've been together for 40 years, but we're not married. We want to be, and we plan on it, but we're waiting for some necessary documents to come through from California.

That said, we had no trouble. East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, LA. They accepted me instantly as his partner, without blinking an eye. Oh, I have his medical power of attorney and so forth, but they didn't seem to need it. Couldn't have asked for better service. It does happen sometimes, even here in the Deep South.

@16 he lied. He's a conservative; it's as natural to them as breathing.

Aw man, it almost warms my heart to know that seattleblues is still crying into his cornmeal over this.

I love Dan and I love reading the writing of all you smart folk. Stupid Sattleblues' stupid comment was gone by the time I got here, but I loved reading your replies.

I was moved by the first story about the husband being well treated by the hospital just as he should have been. I'm so glad most of that nightmare is over.

The first story brought tears to my eyes. The way life should be. I'm so grateful that the paramedics broke the rules to let the husband ride in the back just in case there was another emergency--beautiful, human gesture.

The second story caused the tears to fall due to rage at the lack of humanity. I will never understand how people can treat others with such disdain, especially in times of pain. Hopefully, these days are behind us and will remain so.

@8: oɐɯl ʎʎɐ

@22 =)