President Obama orders hospitals to allow same-sex visits

President Barack Obama on Thursday directed all hospitals that
participate in Medicare and Medicaid to allow people to visit their gay, lesbian and transgender partners.

Obama issued a presidential memorandum Thursday evening “that
participating hospitals may not deny visitation privileges on the basis
of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation,
gender identity or disability.”

{mosads}”There are few moments in our lives that call for greater
compassion and companionship than when a loved one is admitted to the
hospital,” Obama said. “In these hours of need and moments of pain and
anxiety, all of us would hope to have a hand to hold, a shoulder on
which to lean — a loved one to be there for us, as we would be there
for them.”

The president said that the “stressful and at times terrifying
experience for patients is senselessly compounded by indignity and
unfairness.”

“And it means that all too often, people are made
to suffer or even to pass away alone, denied the comfort of
companionship in their final moments while a loved one is left worrying
and pacing down the hall,” Obama wrote.

In his first year in office, the president was often criticized by
the GLBT community for not moving fast enough on issues critical to
them.

So far this year, the Obama administration and Democrats
on Capitol Hill have signaled some progress on issues like repealing “Don’t ask, don’t tell” and the Employee Non-Discrimination Act.