{"id":10462,"date":"2007-01-09T23:09:50","date_gmt":"2007-01-10T06:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/01\/09\/why-gay-marriage-matters.html"},"modified":"2014-11-05T14:05:47","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T21:05:47","slug":"why_gay_marriage_matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/09\/why_gay_marriage_matters.html","title":{"rendered":"Why gay marriage matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Because no matter how many powers of attorney and documents you plan for and sign ahead of time, no matter how much folks say, “Well, there’s ways you can make it all the same” — someone’s going to balk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

As a same-sex couple living in Utah, Jody and Jess weren’t stupid. They knew they needed protection if their love was to count in the eyes of the state. So years ago, they met with an attorney to churn out legal documents. Jody gave Jess power of attorney and named Jess her representative after death. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[…] Jody died early Thanksgiving morning. She was 47.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jess removed the catheter, the feeding tube and “got Jody looking more like Jody.” She then sat there, alone with her partner, and said goodbye. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It was Pam [Jody’s former girlfriend, a nurse, and a friend of the couple] who offered to call the mortuary that morning. The response she got left her, and Jess, stunned. “They wouldn’t even pick up her body,” Jess said between tears. “I was so . . . angry, I couldn’t breathe.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After all they’d done, legal documents didn’t seem to matter. The mortuary required permission from “a blood relative” to retrieve Jody’s body, Pam was told. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, Jody’s brother was available to call. And her mother, days later, faxed a consent form giving Jess full control of arrangements. Had Jody’s mom insisted on a traditional burial and LDS service, all their plans would have been for naught or required court action.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read the article. Anyone who tells me that Jody and Jess didn’t share a sacred bond that ought<\/em> to be respected and recognized by our social and legal systems is missing something here. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(via Ginny<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/small><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because no matter how many powers of attorney and documents you plan for and sign ahead of time, no matter how much folks say, “Well, there’s ways you can make…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,718],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-stuff","category-marriage-equality"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3861,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/20\/look_before_you.html","url_meta":{"origin":10462,"position":0},"title":"Look before you lock","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 20-Mar-03 5:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Jody Mason wanted to make a bold statement against the Bush administration's Iraq actions, and so he headed to downtown Olympia, Washington, and shackled himself to the front door of...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43243,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/24\/oh-georgia-will-your-zaniness-never-end.html","url_meta":{"origin":10462,"position":1},"title":"Oh, Georgia, will your zaniness never end?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 24-Jun-14 2:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And by \"zaniness\" I mean \"politico-religious doltitude.\"Or, to put it another way, when the leading contender in one of your Congressional districts is on the record in echoing Bryan Fischer in a dozen different ways, you're doing something wrong.Mr Hice is one of those guys who gives Christianity a bad\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45668,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/06\/not-with-a-bang-but-a-refusal-to-take-up-an-appeal.html","url_meta":{"origin":10462,"position":2},"title":"Not with a bang, but a refusal to take up an appeal","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 6-Oct-14 11:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Supreme Court has declined to hear appeals against those federal circuit courts who have declared a ban on gay marriage to be unconstitutional. Which means the states covered in those circuits -- including Colorado (http:\/\/www.slate.com\/blogs\/outward\/2014\/10\/06\/the_supreme_court_actually_just_allowed_gay_marriage_in_eleven_11_states.html for more) have to abide by those circuit court decisions.It's an oddly quiet way\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9490,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/06\/27\/respect_is_earn.html","url_meta":{"origin":10462,"position":3},"title":"Respect is earned, not guilted into","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 27-Jun-06 7:17am","format":false,"excerpt":"BD points to a rather snarky editorial in the Rocky Mountain News about the (gasp) evil threat that The Daily Show poses to the Body Politic. A number of prominent...","rel":"","context":"In "Fourth Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Fourth Estate","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/fourth-estate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3008,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/08\/23\/potpourri_for_2.html","url_meta":{"origin":10462,"position":4},"title":"Potpourri for $200, Alex","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 23-Aug-02 6:52am","format":false,"excerpt":"Jess Nevins has a cool site on pulp heroes of the first half of the 20th Century, including many links to other locations for the more popular figures. Keanu Reeves...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9974,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/03\/you_can_take_it_with_you.html","url_meta":{"origin":10462,"position":5},"title":"You can take it with you","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 3-Oct-06 9:37am","format":false,"excerpt":"Or, at least, you can prevent people from having it after you're gone. Went to a memorial service last night for one of the \"patriarchs\" in our parish. Among the...","rel":"","context":"In "Hi-Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Hi-Tech","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/hi-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46534,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10462\/revisions\/46534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}