Lesbian Denied Access to Dying Partner Files Suit

Notwithstanding these atrocities in Florida, thousands of gay people support Disney's Gay Days every year because gay people continue to perpetuate the stereotype of not supporting our own with their tourist dollars in states with these antediluvian laws.

To The Family, with love and sincere pain, you are in my prayers. My heart aches for this family. What has America come to. A simple visit was all that was needed. Hopefully the ones in charge never have to go through such an ordeal. This family will NEVER be able to say one last I Love You. As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ,my prayers are with them. Jackson Memorial Hospital, shame on you! This has nothing to do with being a Lesbian or a Christian, simply "being human". May they win there law suit for the sake of the children. Though money could never replace the "moment", but it will help there future. Rev. Dr. E. Daniel Ponce

Thanks,JC Harris of London, for an "outside looking-in" perspective that's much needed. Warning to Florida: If you don't hop on the "Equality Bandwagon" pretty soon you will fall as far behind as your "Bible Belt" neighbors to the north and become just another "low - tech backwater", an area of "sweet tea and grits", unable to attract top talent to the state. Educated people from outside the state aren't going to tolerate someplace that's "stuck in the past". GET WITH THE PROGRAM. As for the gay life there: Cigarette smoke, disco balls and drag shows belong back in the '70's. Hello?? Anybody home?

Some time ago, I e-mailed the Florida tourist authorities (who were mounting an ad campaign in the UK) to ask what assurances they could give that married or civilly partnered same-sex couples did not run the risk of falling into this trap if they visited Florida. I had neither acknowledgement nor reply. For a state that relies so much on tourist income to keep its creaking infrastructure going, this insouciant approach is going to come back and bite Florida. It will be even worse if Amendment 2 passes in November, enshrining - perhaps even requiring - the discrimination in which this hospital has engaged. It will cost the state income and jobs. "You're not safe in Florida" is a potent line that all the promotion of Key West and Fort Lauderdale in Miami Beach will find hard to dispel.

Christians! Tell me they're not hypocritical! I don't care how disapproving they are about gay sex, to prevent two people who love each other from each other when one is dying is one of the cruelest tortures I could think of and the epitome of evil.

as a resident of florida, and someone who's been hospitalized too many times, it's sad to say that we just lie these days and say we're each other's sisters, as next of kin: have already had problems with some nursing staff, but University of Florida, Miami, was great about acknowledging my partner's right to be my next of kin: I really think it's the hospital more than the state (the state's OTHER homophobic issues aside!); but I know in the last 2 hospitalizations, I was pleased and surprised to have been asked if I had any "cultural and/or traditions and/or beliefs" that they could address for me (instead of asking me for a religious preference) I even complimented them on that sensitivity. Florida needs a LOT of help but leaving won't help: change comes from WITHIN.

If anyone's ever landed in Florida you've quickly realized that you've landed in another decade. I successfully saved enough money to rent a U-Haul and fled that backward homophobic environment a couple years ago. The state legislature is run by a bunch of "good 'ol boys" and there are also various "local" hatemongers like Ronda Storms (who's actually in the state legislature now.....scary) and David Caton, the former self-confessed porn-addict, who rails against the gay community on a continual basis. I agree.........sue the hell out of Jackson Memorial, especially the individuals who were directly responsible. Keep your fingers crossed that Amendment 2 fails, otherwise gay Floridains will be moving to Alabama or Texas "for a better life"........a Floridian in exile

America claims to be the leader of the free world but looking in from the outside all we see is country ruled by a right wing christian taliband! Good luck in your fight against such bigotry and whilst money will never replace a loved one I wish Janice and her children all the luck in the world and hope they win millions.

My father has had to take my mother to the emergency room on several occasions over the years and, interestingly, he was never asked to prove that he is the legal next of kin during any of the emergency situations. The hospital staff always just took his word for it. While I understand the pragmatic responses from some about always carrying reams of legal documents with you, I can’t help but wonder if the staff would take the time to read and understand all those papers. Or was the horrific treatment of this family not about rules and legalities at all?

I tried to address my comments to Jackson Memorial Hospital and I can see how frustrated anyone with an imperitive cause could get. These people seem to talk only to their Florida Evangelical God and then by appointment. What a sad thing when a mate of 18 years can't say goodbye, nor can the children of the deceased. The patient certainly went from happily going on a cruise with her family to death rapidly under the care of Jackson Hospital. I wish the surviving mate the best in her lawsuit to help put an end to the Anita Bryant Dade County school of thought prevailing some years ago there. Sue the hell out them--literally!