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Geez, not the old "hospital visitation" canard. That's so old it's laughable. Anyone can visit during visiting hours.

What they are talking about is some hospitals only allow immediate family and spouses to remain in the room overnight, sit in the ER, go to pre-op, etc.

And not all hospitals have those rules. Heck, the only time I was ever in a hospital (1997 - 3 days) I had lots of visitors and half my nurses were gay men. I can't believe a hospital that hires gays wouldn't let a gay partner sit in the room at the request of the person in the hospital.

I'd love to see some real statistics on this since it's been thrown out by the gay community for decades.

As to any other "rights", gay partners can specify their relationship and use power of attorney, living wills, wills, etc. to make sure their partner receives property afte death, etc. Last time I checked, you can buy term life insurance for anyone. If a gay couple want to buy it and leave each other as beneficiary, they don't care as long as you pay your bill. Most heterosexuals don't have will and their estates in up in probate.

Other arguments like Social Security survivor benefits are miniscule and almost ridiculous since they are small for everyone.

I've asked over and over of gay activists...what EXACTLY (and be specific) is the lack of marriage denying you? It sure can't be benefits in the tax code because there are none for married people. I've been married (no kids) for 18 years and every year I've computed our tax liability as singles, married filing separately, and married filing jointly. We always come out with more tax when we are filing jointly. Even if kids were involved, a gay person declaring head of household with a partner declaring single would be better off overall than if they could marry and file jointly.

What they are talking about is some hospitals only allow immediate family and spouses to remain in the room overnight, sit in the ER, go to pre-op, etc. And not all hospitals have those rules

There is a fragment (just a fragment) of truth to this "gay issue".

When so many gays were dying of AIDS in hospitals (1994 was the peak year), many things that happened around death (ICU visiting, all night visits, death notification, custody of the body) were restricted to family. Of course, family members (usually parents) and lovers were often antagonistic to one another.

In one particularly memorable instance in my practice, a gay kid was dying in a coma. The mother would come into the room and set up posters of classmates from high school and college who were supposedly his girlfriends (to show the staff that he wasn't really a homosexual), then, his lover would come in and rip them up.

There is no limit to people's ability to use their ingenuity to hurt other people.