Obama orders same-sex hospital visits

President Obama on Thursday signed a memorandum requiring hospitals to allow gays and lesbians to have non-family visitors and to grant their partners medical power of attorney.

The president ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation. The memo is scheduled to be made public Friday morning, according to an administration official and another source familiar with the White House decision.

An official said the new rule will affect any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding.

A private school can't discriminate on the basis of sex, sexual preference, etc.--that doesn't mean they take everyone who simply wants entry to their school.

Actually they can indeed "discriminate on the basis of sex, sexual preference, etc." otherwise there would be no all boys schools or all girls schools. There would be no Jewish or Christian schools and there would be no gay school.

You as much admit you're incorrect when you later add "Now this may not be the intention of the memo ..."

I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. However you are exactly right, the complete destruction of anything resembling structure is the motive of this memo.

You are ignoring that this is totally unnecessary if all they want is for your current warm place to put it to be allowed to see you.

I am not twisting the meaning of discrimination, you are.

A bit paranoid, aren't we?

Sadly no.

I've never seen this very rare occurance happen--have you?

Here you go. http://www.ifge.org/Article392.phtml

Man wants to use womans bath room because he claims to be "a woman in a man's body" boy wants to use girl bathroom because he "feels like a girl" Maine thinks that is just peachy.

You're mixing apples with oranges--I assumed you were trying to understand my point, and not making foolish "AHA!" grandstanding. When I said "a private school can't discriminate..." I assumed you would grasp that I was talking about the basic idea of a private school i.e. one that takes private citizens's money but has to abide by the laws of the nation. They can't keep someone out as long as they meet the requirements ANY student has to meet to get in. I didn't think I had to get so basic.

If a school accepts boys only, does that mean they have to accept all boys? No. Do Christian schools have to accept anyone who walks in because they are Christian? No. (And I've got news for you, at least in every one I'm personally aware of in my work with schools, anyone can go to a Christian school.)And just because a patient is gay, and names his partner as someone he wants allowed in to see him, that doesn't mean the hospital has to let any person who says "I slept with him" in to see him. Get it now?

I am not twisting the meaning of discrimination, you are.

Yes you are. Having all-girls or all-boys schools doesn't compel those schools to accept all girls or all boys who want in, yet you're claiming this order compels the hospitals to let any gay person into the hospital room. That shows you're either twisting the truth or simply don't understand it.

I've never seen this very rare occurance happen--have you? Here you go. http://www.ifge.org/Article392.phtml

I specifically said I hadn't seen this happen, and I haven't--neither have you. We both have heard about occassional cases where some ass tries this (it's happened here in Boston). Is it a daily occurance? No. Have you actually been in a bathroom where this is widespread? I doubt it. I think it's as insane as you do, but it's not this common occurance where I live--if it is where you live, and you've actually seen it, maybe you live in the wrong neighborhood.

This is why I used the word "paranoid"--just because some people want this foolishness, and because you can find one case in the newspaper, that doesn't mean it's a daily occurance you've experienced.

Man wants to use womans bath room because he claims to be "a woman in a man's body" boy wants to use girl bathroom because he "feels like a girl" Maine thinks that is just peachy.

He can want it all he wants. How often does it actually happen? That's my point.

Back to the original post; you claimed anyone could walk into the hospital and say "I'm his boyfriend, you have to let me in" and the hospital would have to let just anyone in. No, that's simply not true. In fact, the basis of this whole decision is about privacy and patients's rights--gays in hospitals don't want just anyone walking in, and the hospitals don't, either, and the order doesn't say that.

I don't have a problem with this, because this has been one of the major arguments for gay marriage. Now they don't have that major argument. And like it or not, gay people are human beings and taxpayers, and I have this silly conservative idea that as citizens they have the right to say who gets into their hospital rooms and has power of attorney. Why should I care or anyone else who claims to want government off people's backs (so to speak) care about this?

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