Opinion: Gov. Scott Is Wrong!

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is fighting to make sure same-sex couples don’t have the right to visitation when a partner is hospitalized. The controversy over marriage equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered will rage on. But where is the humanity in preventing partners in a gay couple from rendering compassionate support when one of them is in the hospital? Can’t we leave politics behind when someone is sick and suffering?

Wisconsin’s previous governor, Jim Doyle, proposed a domestic partner registry so that those closest to a patient could be admitted for hospital visitation. Walker argues that the registry violates the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage by giving same sex couples the legal right to visit each other in the hospital, make end-of-life decisions, and inherit each other’s property. 

These are humanitarian decisions that should be made by someone who knows the patient better than anyone else. Can you imagine a remote cousin making these judgments and inheriting an estate from someone he or she barely knows? Or worse, a hostile blood relative who has nothing but disgust for the man or woman in critical condition?

According to federal regulations implemented this year by the Department of Health and Human Services, patients at nearly every hospital in the country are now able to decide who has visitation rights and who can make medical decisions on their behalf. These rules apply to hospitals that accept Medicare and Medicaid programs and prohibit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability. Is Governor Walker thinking of fighting the federal government of same-sex visitation, too?