Last February, after losing Curt Sills, his
partner of 10 years, to cancer, Springfield resident Randy Walden
sent an angry missive to St. John’s Hospital in which, he
says, he complained of “appalling, inexcusable
treatment.”
It was more than just the cold stares and
raised eyebrows Walden says he received from nurses and doctors at
the hospital when they learned that he was gay.
On the last night of Sills’ life, Walden
says, he was not allowed to stay in the room with him. And the next
morning, when it became clear that Sills was dying, the hospital
called his parents to warn them of his condition but never informed
Walden.
Walden later filed complaints against St.
John’s with the Illinois Hospital Association and Illinois
Nurses Association, but nothing came of them.
A St. John’s spokesman said the hospital
has no record of Walden’s complaint.
“It’s a case of a lack of
professionalism and bigotry, as far as I’m concerned,” said
Walden, a registered nurse, discussing his experiences during a
gay-rights forum held last week at University of Illinois at
Springfield. The discussion focused on same-sex marriage, marriage
equality, and obstacles faced by gay and lesbian families.
Other panelists included a lesbian couple, a U
of I professor, a local church leader, and representatives of the
American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal defense Fund.
The event, attended by about 40 people, was
held just two days before Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed into law a
landmark bill that bans discrimination against homosexuals in
matters of housing, employment, and credit.
“What we’re doing today is as old
as the scripture — love thy neighbor,” Blagojevich said
of the new law, which amends the state Human Rights Act to include
gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgendered people to the list of protected groups.
Gay-rights advocates had pushed for similar versions of the bill since
1976.
The law’s speedy passage in the final
two days of the 93rd General Assembly surprised many, coming so
soon after the November election, in which the debate over
“moral values” played a divisive role.
Some gay-rights advocates are now fearful of a
backlash against the new anti-discrimination law, expecting
conservative lawmakers to increase pressure for Illinois to join
the 11 other states that have recently passed constitutional
amendments banning gay marriage.
“I think this session we’ll be on
the defensive fighting anti-gay legislation,” said Rick
Garcia of Chicago-based Equality Illinois.
Opponents of the new law warn that it would
force churches that disapprove of homosexuality to hire gays and lesbians. They also say it could
open the door to gay marriage, pointing to the Massachusetts Supreme
Court’s controversial ruling last year.
Indeed, marriage has become the defining goal
of the gay-rights movement, as was demonstrated at the UIS forum,
where advocates began looking ahead to the next step in what many
view as a modern-day civil-rights movement.
“As with any civil-rights issue, you win
one thing at a time,” Walden said. “The new law is not
enough; it’s not even close — but it’s a step in
the right direction.”
Illinois lawmakers were careful to distinguish
between sanctioning gay marriage and protecting basic civil rights.
But same-sex partners will continue to suffer discrimination until
they are afforded the many benefits reserved for married couples,
said Ramona Faith Oswald, associate professor of family studies at
U of I.
In more than 1,100 federal laws, marital
status is a factor in the determination or receipt of benefits,
rights, and privileges, said Oswald, pointing to research compiled
by the federal government’s General Accounting Office.
They include such critical benefits as access
to Social Security after a spouse’s death, access to health
and life insurance through a spouse’s workplace, and
automatic inheritance of shared assets after a spouse’s
death.
Oswald also discussed the prevalence of
homosexual partners who are rearing children.
Nationally, she said, a third of female-female
households and more than 20 percent of male-male households are
rearing kids. Those percentages are slightly higher in Illinois.
Sangamon County, she said, is home to an
estimated 400 same-sex couples, according to Census Bureau data
from 2000, and more than 100 minor children being reared in such
households.
Oswald argued that such households have no
impact on a child’s development or sexual orientation. In
fact, she said, studies show that children raised in such
households tend to be more tolerant and have better social skills.
“It’s the quality of relationships
that matters for kids,” she said, “not the structures
of their families.”
Rev. Martin Woulfe, pastor of
Springfield’s Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist
Congregation, shot down the perception of marriage as a long and
unchanged institution.
As an example, Woulfe and others pointed to interracial marriage,
which only became legal throughout the country in the late 1960s.
“The tradition of marriage has changed
in our lifetime,” said Woulfe, who has led several same-sex
marriage ceremonies [see Will Burpee, “A simple
ceremony,” July 15]. “The idea of protecting this
‘tradition’ is really a misnomer.”
After the forum, Woulfe said that such public
discussions would be critical to further progress in the gay-rights
movement.
“It’s going to take a lot of
engagement with other people, particularly those who are hostile to
the notion of gay marriage,” Woulfe said.
“It’s a long process.”
This article appears in Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2005.
