I became a Permanent Resident of Canada! Dreams do come true...in funny, unexpected ways. The man at the immigration office was quite the jovial fellow and seemed more excited than those being endowed Permanent Residence status. Anyway...
What I really want to share about is going to see Dan Savage speak last weekend. I love that man! He is so friggin' hilarious. But what stayed with me more than his humourously delivered sex advice was a tragic story about a lesbian couple vacationing in Florida with their kids. One of the women had to be hospitalized and her partner and kids were not allowed to see her while she was dying in a hospital room. She ended up dying alone. ALONE.
Although her partner had power of attorney and all the entitlements that a spouse would have, the hospital staff ignored all the papers and refused to recognize their domestic partnership because they deemed their relationship illegitimate. At least they could have let her kids see her. But nope, the heartless staff wouldn't budge.
Dan Savage asked, "What heterosexual marriage was saved by refusing these two women to be together?" And I angrily wonder the same question. WTF? The discrimination against gay people in the U.S. is just as appalling as when African-Americans were denied their basic civil rights. I can't believe that this sort of injustice still goes on after all the social progress that's been achieved. I really don't understand.
