Politics and Law
- Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida announced a series of improved policies “more responsive to the needs of the LGBT community.” The move was in response to a lawsuit brought by Janice Langbehn, who in 2007 was kept from her partner Lisa Pond who lay dying in the hospital. The couple’s three children were kept from Pond as well.
- This brings us to the big news of the week: President Obama issued a memo directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to ensure that same-sex partners have the same visitation rights as other immediate family members. HHS should “Initiate appropriate rulemaking . . . to ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors.” The memo also says that hospitals should “guarantee that all patients’ advance directives, such as durable powers of attorney and health care proxies, are respected, and that patients’ representatives otherwise have the right to make informed decisions regarding patients’ care.” The President also phoned Janice Langbehn to offer his apology for the hospital’s actions. The hospital itself has not done so.
- Why doesn’t President Obama’s education reform proposal include strong anti-bullying measures? I explore this question in my latest piece for Keen News Service.
- Nancy Polikoff points out Maryland’s missed opportunity to pass a bill recognizing de facto parents.
Schools and Youth
- GLSEN and hundreds of thousands of students nationwide are observing the Day of Silence today, to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools.
- A third-grade fashion show planned as part of a Women’s History Month assignment has been canceled because of some parents’ rigidity over gender roles. My piece on this at Change.org.
- Constance McMillen, whose Mississippi school canceled its prom rather than let her bring a same-sex date, will be grand marshal of the New York City Pride Parade in June.
Parental Philosophy
- John Corvino at 365gay.com asks, “whether we can acknowledge [the] significance [of biological ties] without casting aspersions on those whose parent-child bonds are non-biological.”
- Susan Raffo, in a guest post at Bilerico, discusses how white parents raising white children can talk about race and racism and help our children understand these issues.
Entertainment
- Melissa Etheridge and Tammy Lynn Etheridge have separated. (If you have to ask “Who?” you’re on the wrong blog.) The couple have two children together; Melissa has two others from a previous relationship.
- I don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy myself, but those of you who do may be interested in Dorothy Snarker’s piece at After Ellen on how the show can avoid the dread “pregnant lesbian” storyline now that actor Jessica Capshaw is pregnant.