Healthcare Equality Index gets national media attention on release date
May 13, 2008 6:15PM
Chris Johnson
Today's Associated Press article by David Crary on the release of the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) has already been picked up by over 150 mainstream media outlets across the country (like CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Miami Herald, USA Today, Advocate) and gay blogs like Towleroad, JustUsBoys and Queerty.
Earlier today, Joe Solmonese and GLMA executive director Joel Ginsberg held a media conference call to discuss the release of the HEI.
You can download the recorded mp3 of the call here (9 MB; sorry the file is so HUGE) or just use the player below:
Arizona gay marriage ban moves to Senate; GLBT state residents urged to TAKE ACTION
May 13, 2008 5:07PM
Chris Johnson
Today the Arizona House of Representatives voted 33-25 to put a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage on this year's statewide ballot in November.
The measure now moves on to the state Senate, where legislators will decide whether to hold a vote on the amendment. A similar ban was defeated at the polls in 2006.
Joe Solmonese issued this statement today:
The Human Rights Campaign is proud that many fair-minded House members fought valiantly to defeat this harmful and unnecessary amendment. We will continue to work with our legislative allies to defeat this amendment as it moves to the state Senate.
TAKE ACTION: Arizona residents can use Equality Arizona's action alert to send a message to their state senators asking them to oppose the proposal, SCR 1042.
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Health Care has to be a right for all, including GLBT families
May 13, 2008 3:00PM
Joe Solmonese
This was crossposted today at the Huffington Post.
In our national debate on health care - we need to remember that in America, health care is a right, not a privilege. Too often that's not true for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. The absence of federal protections, inadequate state laws and inconsistent hospital policies often result in discrimination and inadequate health care for GLBT patients and their families.
Too many times, a gay man has been unable to comfort his partner, a transgender person has been ridiculed instead of treated, or a lesbian mom has been barred from seeing her child at the hospital. These are real-life situations that play out every day in healthcare settings across the country--with devastating consequences.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association are taking steps to reform the health care industry by releasing a nationwide survey -- the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) - that for the first time ever will rate the nation's hospitals on a set of baseline standards of patient care for GLBT Americans.
This is the first step toward establishing a nationwide set of standards to reduce discrimination and ensure quality hospital-based health care.
Eighty-eight hospitals from across the country were surveyed on criteria such as patient non-discrimination, hospital visitation, decision making, cultural competency training and employment policies, and today we're joined by some of the industry's leaders in this arena--the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
We modeled this survey after our successful Corporate Equality Index, which rates corporations based on equality standards for GLBT workers. Today, as a result of the Corporate Equality Index, over 50 percent of the Fortune 500 offer benefits to same-sex partners -- up from just a handful in 2000. We expect the HEI to achieve similar results in the healthcare community by calling attention to discriminatory practices and, over time, establishing a "gold standard" of policies to ensure equality of treatment.
The HEI is an important step in the right direction. Because at what can be the most trying and difficult times in the lives of GLBT Americans, the failure to provide protections can be devastating. Ken Johnson knows too well how the lack of national standards can lead to discrimination and inadequate care. Today, Ken, a lawyer who lives in Northern Virginia, shared his story, which tells first hand what's happening each and every day to GLBT Americans in emergency rooms across the country - and why we need better policies:
James E. Massey and I met on January 28, 2000. On June 28, 2003, we were united in a covenant ceremony, at National City Christian Church's Howland Center, in Washington, D.C. We subsequently registered as domestic partners in the State of California. On November 19, 2004, we finalized the adoption of our son.
On June 15, 2006, I received a call from one of James' co-workers, who said that James had collapsed at a CVS drug store near their Southwest D.C. office and had been taken by ambulance to the hospital. I then called 911 and was told that based on the location of the drug store, it was likely that James had been taken to Howard University Hospital. I then called a family friend and ask her to pick up our son from pre-school, while I went to Howard.
When I arrived at the emergency room at Howard, I asked the nurse at the desk whether James Massey had been brought to the hospital by ambulance. The nurse asked who I was and I explained: "My name is Ken Johnson and I am James Massey's domestic partner." The nurse replied that she could only release information to Mr. Massey's immediate family. I replied that Mr. Massey and I had been partners for over six years; that we lived together; that we had registered as domestic partners in the State of California; that we had executed wills and powers of attorney on each other's behalf; and that we had adopted a son together. The nurse's response to me was: "You're just the friend; I can only release information to immediate family members."
I waited for the nurse to leave the station and I walked into the emergency room and began looking behind each curtain to see if I could find James. (At the time, I did not care about invading other patients' privacy. I needed to find my partner and my son's father.).
When I found James, a doctor and a nurse were working on him. James was lying unconscious in a hospital bed. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth. The doctor asked who I was and I said that I was James' partner. The doctor explained that James had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage; that his condition was critical; and that they were going to move him to the intensive care unit. The doctor said that I could ride on the elevator with them and James to the ICU, but then I would have to leave.
When we arrived at the ICU, I told James that I loved him. I then left James' room, according to the doctor's instruction.
At our covenant ceremony, I took James to be my life partner, "for better for worse,
for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death." At the ceremony, I promised James: "I'm not leaving, no matter what."I did not want to leave James' hospital room because I did not want him to die alone. But I knew that if I wanted to see him again and be involved in making decisions about his health care, that I would have to drive to our home in Fairfax County, Virginia, so that I could get our wills, living wills and powers of attorney.
After a few minutes, my friend arrived at the hospital and I asked her to drive me home. Due to traffic, it took us about two and a half hours to drive to my home; get the wills, living wills and powers of attorney; and drive back to the hospital. While we were gone, decisions were made about James' health care that did not consider his wishes, as reflected in the living will that he had signed. When I returned to the hospital with our wills, living wills and powers of attorney, I was allowed to be involved in making decisions about James' health care and to spend the night in James' room. The next day, June 16, 2006, James died.
Human Rights Campaign Foundation releases new hospital ratings based on GLBT patient care
May 13, 2008 12:30PM
Chris Johnson
Today HRC President Joe Solmonese and Joel Ginsberg, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, leaders in the healthcare industry and hospital executives will announce the release of the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), a first-of-its-kind survey to rate the nation’s hospitals on a set of baseline standards of patient care for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) Americans.
The absence of federal protections, inadequate state laws and differing hospital policies often results in discrimination and inadequate health care for GLBT patients and their families. Too many times, a gay man has been unable to comfort his partner, a transgender person has been ridiculed instead of treated, or a lesbian mom has been barred from seeing her child at the hospital.
The HEI is modeled after the successful Human Rights Campaign Foundation Workplace Project’s Corporate Equality Index, which rates corporations based on equality standards for GLBT workers and has lead to over 50 percent of the Fortune 500 offering benefits to same-sex partners today, up from just a handful in 2000.
Solmonese and Ginsberg will be joined by representatives from participating hospitals, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, New York Presbyterian Hospital, and Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. Administrators and physicians from these facilities will describe the barriers to quality care that GLBT patients and their families experience as a result of the lack of national protection, discriminatory hospital policies, inadequate state laws, or healthcare providers’ insufficient training on the unique health issues faced by the GLBT community.
There will be a media conference call today at 1 p.m. EST to announce the release of first annual Healthcare Equality Index.
The full Healthcare Equality Index report can be downloaded at www.hrc.org/hei.
WHO: Human Rights Campaign Foundation President Joe Solmonese
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association Executive Director Joel Ginsberg
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Massachusetts General Hospital
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center
New York Presbyterian Hospital
Author of HEI, Tom Sullivan from Human Rights Campaign Foundation
WHEN: Tuesday, May 13, 2008, at 1 p.m. EST
**NEW CONFERENCE CALL NUMBER: 866/687-4018 CONFIRMATION ID: 47274202
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UPDATE: You can download the audio of the conference call (mp3, 9MB) or just use the player below:
Camp Equality: Growing the power of volunteers
May 13, 2008 10:00AM
Chris Johnson
Now back in our Washington, DC headquarters, HRC National Field Director Marty Rouse gives his review of the opening Camp Equality that was held in Ft. Lauderdale this past weekend:
This weekend I had the pleasure of participating in HRC’s very first Camp Equality™ in Fort Lauderdale. I arrived on Friday to have meetings and watch the last-minute logistics fall into place. On Saturday morning, fifty participants showed up eager to learn more about how to make a difference in campaigns. They represented a tremendous diversity – gay and straight; black, white and latino/a; young and old; even my grandmother.
Our campers learned all about blogging (http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2008/05/hrcs-camp-equal.html), canvassing, phone banking, recruiting and retaining volunteers, and how to talk to folks about this November’s anti-marriage ballot initiative. On the second day, the campers chose a Camp Equality™ leadership team to help keep them informed about volunteer opportunities, and I got goosebumps hearing the candidates give their speeches. After just one day of training, their presentations about why we need to defeat Florida’s anti-gay constitutional amendment were so powerful.
I know that our investment in these two days and the twelve additional Camp Equality™ trainings we have scheduled will make a tremendous difference in November. HRC’s work to provide real campaign skills to dedicated supporters of equality around the country is really amazing.
I was joined in Fort Lauderdale by Field Team staff Sultan Shakir and Toby Quaranta (pictured, top left), who have been working tirelessly for weeks planning and recruiting for this training, and by our resident videographer Charlie Nordstrom. I’m looking forward to seeing the video, which I’m sure Charlie will turn into a great two-minute recruitment piece for future Camps. Of course, the Camp Equality™ program would not be possible without the vision of HRC’s leadership and the support of everyone in the organization.
HRC's Sultan Shakir, Charlie Nordstrom, Marty Rouse and Toby Quaranta with Marty's grandmother, Edith. Special thanks also go to our organizational partners for this first Camp Equality™ - Florida Red & Blue, Fairness for All Families, Equality Florida, the ACLU of Florida, Dolphin Democrats and Florida Young Democrats.
To read more about this weekend’s Camp Equality™, check out the article in today’s South Florida Sun-Sentinel at http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbequality0512sbmay12,0,5491565.story.
For more photos from the Ft. Lauderdale Camp Equality:
Day 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2239100&l=9c9e6&id=6201298
Day 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2238904&l=227e5&id=6201298
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2238906&l=d61e0&id=6201298
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TAKE ACTION: Tell Washington University that it should not reward anti-gay bigotry with honorary doctorate degrees
May 12, 2008 6:20PM
Chris Johnson
HRC is joining with Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) to urge Washington University to reconsider its plans to award an honorary doctorate to longtime GLBT rights antagonist Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the conservative advocacy group The Eagle Forum, at the school’s May 16 commencement ceremonies in St. Louis.
PFLAG, HRC, GLBT activists and concerned students, faculty and alumni are encouraging members and supporters of the GLBT community to send a clear message to Washington University Chancellor Mark Stephen Wrighton at wrighton@wustl.edu asking the university not to support anti-gay hatred by honoring Phyllis Schlafly.
FACEBOOK USERS: You can also join a special Facebook group created in opposition to Schlafly. The group currently has over 1,000 members.
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UPDATE: A group of 14 professors at the Washington University law school have sent a letter to Chancellor Wrighton urging the University to cancel its plans to award Phyllis Schlafly with an honorary degree. Here's an excerpt from the text:
Let us be clear. We are not talking about mere political disagreements - including her most famous political success, the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment. Although many of us promoted the amendment, we readily acknowledge that reasonable people can disagree over the question whether - particularly in light of the existing Equal Protection Clause - a specific constitutional amendment was the ideal way to pursue the objective of equality, to which this University is firmly committed.
Our objection to honoring Ms. Schlafly instead stems from the fact that she has devoted her career to demagoguery and anti-intellectualism in the pursuit of her political agenda. She has berated scientific inquiry; apart from her particular stance on the Equal Rights Amendment, she has demonstrated a lack of concern for - and sometimes outright bigotry toward - not only women, but gays and lesbians; and she has led campaigns to undermine the independence of the judiciary.
Read the full text of the letter here.
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- Youth & Campus Activism
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Show lineup for tonight's The Agenda with Joe Solmonese
May 12, 2008 4:31PM
Chris Johnson
On tonight’s The Agenda with Joe Solmonese:
· Paul Rudnick, playwright
· John Heilemann, New York magazine
· Mary Bonauto, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
· Rabbi Denise Eger & Rev. Joe Hoffman on Clergy Call 2009
· Vicki Eaklor, author and GLBT historian
Tune in live from 6 – 8 p.m. eastern every Monday on XM channel 155. Download clips here on Back Story and at www.hrc.org/TheAgenda every Tuesday.
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Human Rights Campaign hosts meet and greet with New York Congresswoman Yvette Clarke
May 12, 2008 2:11PM
Chris Johnson
On Saturday, the Greater NY Steering Committee hosted a Meet & Greet with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) in her Brooklyn district (pictured, center). The meet and greet was held at neighborhood gay bar mainstay, Excelsior.
HRC was joined at the meet and greet by openly gay NYC Council candidates Bob Zuckerman and Yetta Kurland, senior board members and members of the Stonewall Democrats of NYC & Lambda Independent Democrats ("LID") (Brooklyn's LGBT Democratic club), among about 30 others. In attendance from the Steering Committee were Chris Carolan, Amelia Field, Anthony Hayes, Dirk McCall, Daryl Cochrane, Drew Beckman, David Hurst, and Pete Webb (who did a great job organizing the logistics of the event).
Chris Carolan introduced the Congresswoman to the crowd, calling her our "new hero, friend, and champion for equality". Congresswoman Clarke spoke with feeling about her desire to stay connected with her LGBT constituents, to fight for our rights, to pass legislation like an all inclusive ENDA, and reform a tax code which discriminates against long time gay couples, and to take on more conservative entrenched mindsets in Washington.
She spoke with hope of the upcoming election, expressing the view, often espoused by HRC also, that when sitting Members go back after having voted for progressive legislation and get re-elected in November, and are joined by yet more pro-equality progressives, it will become easier to pass ENDA, Hate Crimes, and other set pieces of our legislative agenda, especially with a president who would be willing to sign these bills into law. Clarke also expressed the hope that the U.S. Senate would vote on the many pieces of legislation passed by the House this year before the end of the legislative calendar.
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