"It would be good if someone remembered her next time we are invited to hate an abstract."

Discrimination hurts -- more so in hospitals - Leonard Pitts Jr. - MiamiHerald.com

Your wife is dying.

One moment everything was fine. You were in your stateroom on the cruise ship -- it was to be an anniversary cruise -- unpacking your things. The kids were in the adjoining stateroom playing with your wife. Suddenly, they banged on the door crying that mom was hurt.

So now you're in the hospital -- Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital -- waiting for word, and it's not coming. They tell you, Joe (we'll call you Joe), you can't be with her. You plead with them, to no avail. No, Joe, sorry, Joe, we can't tell you anything.

One hour turns to two, two to four, four to six. Your wife is dying, and no one she loves is there.

Finally, in the eighth hour, you reach her bedside. You are just in time to stand beside the priest as he administers last rites.

The comments are just amazing in their extremes of compassion versus ignorance.

A better father than Dick Cheney....

In reversal, (San Diego mayor) Sanders (R) supports gay-marriage resolution

Mayor Jerry Sanders reversed his position on gay marriage Wednesday, supporting it in emotional remarks punctuated by pauses, shaking sips of water and his wife's hand resting one time reassuringly on his back. Sanders' wife, Rana Sampson, stood next to him as he acknowledged publicly for the first time that his daughter, Lisa, is a lesbian.

“I've decided to lead with my heart, which is probably obvious right now, to do what I think is right and to take a stand on behalf of equality and social justice,” Sanders said.

A day after staff members said Sanders would veto it, the mayor announced that he would sign a City Council resolution passed Tuesday that directed the City Attorney's Office to file a brief in support of gay marriage.

“As I reflected on the choices that I had before me last night I could just not bring myself to tell an entire group of people in our community they were less important, less worthy or less deserving of the rights and responsibilities of marriage than anyone else simply because of their sexual orientation,” Sanders said.

{snip}

“I have personally wrestled with that opinion ever since,” he said Wednesday his voice wavering. “My opinions on this issue have evolved significantly as I think the opinions of millions of Americans from all walks of life have.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070919-1819-bn19sanders.html

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