Heading South

Dear members of the Committee for Fair Visitation at Jackson Memorial
Hospital,

Please join Lambda Legal and our partner organizations for this free event
for the Southern Florida LGBT community:

Take the Power
Strategies for Protecting Ourselves and Our Loved Ones
Special guest: Janice Langbehn, Lambda Legal client,
Langbehn v. Jackson Memorial Hospital
Thursday, November 19, 2009 – 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Unity on the Bay 411 NE 21st Street, Miami, Florida
(parking lot on NE 22nd Street)

Just a few weeks ago, the United States District Court for the Southern
District of Florida rejected Lambda Legal’s lawsuit filed against Jackson
Memorial Hospital on behalf of Janice Langbehn and her family. Janice and
the three children she and her partner, Lisa Pond, adopted were kept apart
from Lisa by hospital staff for nearly eight hours as Lisa’s condition
deteriorated and she died.

In response to Lambda Legal’s lawsuit, the Public Health Trust of the Miami
Dade County — the governing body of Jackson Memorial Hospital — filed a
motion to dismiss the case. In its decision, the court agreed with the
hospital’s argument that Jackson Memorial has no obligation to allow their
patients visitors in their trauma unit.

The court’s decision paints a tragic picture of how vulnerable lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender people and our families really are in times
of crisis. We have to take extra steps to protect our rights.

Let’s come together to make sure this never happens again. At this event
you will hear Janice’s story and:
find out about legal documents you can use to protect your rights
such as a Healthcare Proxy, Living Will and Shared Custody or
Guardianship Agreement;
hear about steps being taken improve polices and training at Jackson
Memorial Hospital; and
learn about the pending statewide domestic partner bill and what you
can do to help win fairness and equality for our families in Florida.
RSVPs preferred. Light refreshments will be served.
Please RSVP to phalpern@lambdalegal.org or 305-759-7350.

Co-sponsoring organizations:
Equality Florida
The Miami Workers’ Center
Pride Denter at Equality Park
Save Dade

PODCAST

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/glbttalkwithbarbanddonna

you can listen to it on the net or through itunes for free

download from here:

lost but found

I was asked by David’s fball coach to transfer some VHS stuff to DVD.. well my old dual deck wasn’t working so trying to figure this problem out – without buying any equip, I realized if I played the tapes on our flat screen and re-recorded it on my HDD camcorder- it worked.

then it got me to thinking- recently I had found the VCR tape our our Holy Union from 10/12/91 knowing the tape will degrade soon – I needed to do the same.  So I have and having to sit through a couple of taping sessions.. I dug out what I thought was the lost text of our holy union – but alas I found it.

Some of it stuck out – that it was then that Pastor Magill of Tacoma MCC – set the path for us both to be activist – in his remarks:

“I believe that others will look to both of you as role models.  They will learn, by watching you, how two women live together, love together, and worship God together.  Your life will be a witness of God’s unconditional love.  Let not the church, society, or an individual come between your love.  I urge you both NOT to pattern your lives after what others might expect, but after what you expect from one another.”

He went on two describe us from the prior 5 months of couples counseling:

“Lisa and Jan, you have described yourself in some ways as opposites.  Lisa as pastel – quiet and soft, flowers and teddy bears.  Jan as bold, plaid, flannel.  I remind you both that love is patient and kind.  Allow each other to express their individuality – to bring something new and unique into the relationship.  Be patient and king when you don’t always see eye to eye… In other ways you two are very similar – some goals and dreams, spiritual begins with a love for God and the church.  Remember that love never fails; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.  With this love, I trust that your relationship will never fail.  But now abide faith, hope, love these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

His words are so prophetic at this point in my life.  I hope to figure out how to post our Holy Union video.. so check back on this post. You will see my brother Gary with more hair than he has now, my oldest sister Marilyn who was sang “If” – personalized for us.  We pulled off this ceremony after I had only been working for the State for 3 weeks – had to take Leave w/out pay because I had worked long enough to take time off – and we had it planned for 5 months.  You will also see me in a skirt – one of the last occurrences – what I wouldn’t do for Lisa.  All on only $300 – most going to the rental of the Pt. Defiance Lodge in Tacoma.

Kelly Ziegler is my “best” man and Cyndi (Heap) Sams was Lisa’s.  Our favorite UPS professor Cathy Hale was there along with our good friends Sarah Kobernusz and Monte Gibbs.  Cyndi’s husband Eric Sams.  Our good friend Tracy Weeks who video recorded and took pictures.

And finally as I work to hopefully get the video up, we chose rings to wear.  Lisa’s – I designed myself going to a jeweler Larkin’s in Tacoma, behind her back and had it made with her favorite stone – amethest and 2 diamonds.  Lisa never took her ring off – it was taken off her paralyzed hand on the ship on that fateful day and I slipped it onto my right hand were it stays to this day.

We pledge:

I Janice Kay Langbehn, take you Lisa Marie Pond

to be my spouse,

And I promise

that in joy and sorrow

good times and bad

I will love and cherish you

throughout all the changes in our lives.

I place this ring on your finger as a sign of my everlasting love and commitment to you.

what an amazing Saturday that was and remains in my memory as one of the happiest days of my life.  It all came full circle as I had 1 Corinthians 13 read at Lisa Funeral and Memorial.  As well as “If” played during the video tributes.  After all the years, I look back on our $300 ceremony and likely there is not a thing we would have changed from the guests, to our best “persons”, to the songs (and of course the beautiful voice of my sister).  I hope you enjoy it..know that the noise and kids yelling in the background is from the ceremony being held at the Tacoma Park/Zoo.

peace

(the video may seem long but I broke it up into 5 min chunks.. so it would upload quicker)

Part One:

Part Two

Part Three – “If”

Part Four

Part Five

Rosie Radio

Her Sirius show starts on Monday Nov 2

today on Howard Stern, she says she and Kel have split – they will remain a family, parenting the kids

but joked w/ howard about dating in maybe 6 months and her criteria for the new person

you read her blog and people say she is the pillar of “gay” marriage

truthfully no one is – any partnership gay or straight – it takes work

I don’t think they were any different.  I am sure Brad/Angelina or Ellen/ Portia – all work at their commitment

as did Lisa and I in ours – marriage – committed relationships are hard work – anyone who tells you otherwise is lying

As for Rosie/Kelli – I called it back in May that something was a miss – no Rosie on the July Cruise, the formation of Kelli and Gregg or Gregg and Kelli Company

But for me it’s none of my business – for the sake of them and their children – I hope they come out on the other end better than when they entered

I wrote a paper as a freshman in UPS so fall 86 – and remember commenting on what a voyeristic society I think we were becoming – well before the Paparazzi was sung about by Lady Gaga or that they were likely responsible for the death of Princess Diana – or that we want to know everything about Jon and Kate or Octomom or whether Oprah is gay.   I summized back in 86, that if we can stare and compare ourselves to others we can rationalize our place in society – that well we are doing better than so and so.  Or course you are – Life is a bell curve – we all move up and down each day.

I think if we, myself included, had to step back and look at ourselves- every moment of every day, our own behavior and answer to it all – what a daunting task for anyone no matter your status in life.

peace

Weekend in Review

nothing seems to go slowly or sometimes too slowly

nonetheless – the weekend is over

Katie had a soccer game on Saturday against a great team that beat them 5-2, the first time, they tied 2-2 the second and this time K’s team pulled out the victory 1-0

David was in the semi finals – he played hard, got some great tackles but they ended up losing 18-8.  He will go on to play for 3 or 4th in their age division next week.

Katie has her first orchestra concert monday – so today was spent trying to find her outfit – that was accomplished and then

we did power grocery shopping – or better called – mom can’t stand more than 30 minutes so lets do this – We play it like this – we get the list done before getting there, then we divide it in 4 parts.  everyone gets a cart and off we go.. then we all meet at the center of the store – make sure we have it all and head for checkout – anyone with more than 1 in a family is welcome to play – I suggest minimum age is 10 – and able to read or recognize brands is helpful

David and I treated ourselves to manilla clams tonight- yum.

now we head into the last week of football, last week of volleyball, last week of Danielle’s soccer – oh boy

Then we wake for the next wave to hit of David in Bball, Katie Bball and still select soccer, and D trying out for bball

this week is school conferences .. so will do that at the end of the week.

Tues, I am scheduled to do an hour long podcast and maybe some news on some activities I’ll be doing to continue in the fight for how we were treated at JMH

on we go

 

peace

What the “common” citizen can do

I keep getting 10+ emails or blog replies a day of should the “ordinary” person do to change things.

Here are where I would suggest you put your your fingers to work on the keyboard or telephone.

1. the NASW – National Association of Social Workers – they are suppose to oversee the Code of Ethics for all social workers (and I am one) I can think of many tenets mr. Garnett Frederick broke beyond telling me I was in an anti-gay city and state.  our family NEVER saw him after the brief 5 min exchange.  When I ran traumas, I held the family’s hand, I would find them a quiet room, I helped them with the beginning stages of grieving. In other words – you treat them like you would want to be treated in crisis with care, dignity and respect.  The children and I got NONE of that.  So call NASW based in DC and get their ethics committee working on him.  Dr. Frederick has a PhD in SW – so he knows better.  Now the NASW may say there isn’t much they can do if he doesn’t pay dues – well then that needs to change – who is responsible for his behavior and adhering to the code we all pledged to uphold when we became social workers.

2. The Jt. Commission on Hospital Accreditation – They oversee all the item we listed in our lawsuit – that the judge agreed – were violated but they aren’t law – so the hospital needs to be investigated for how they handled our family.

3. The hospital itself – Jackson Memorial Hospital is apart of the University of Miami – large teaching hospital.  I filed an online complaint again Mr. Frederick about 2 weeks after Lisa’s death – and I have so many people who can step forward and confirm he said that to me.. it’s not something I came up with 2 weeks later – I said it within 1 minute  after he said to me to our close family friends when I was crying for them to get the documents faxed to the hospital of.  He continues to deny he said it.  The hospital lost my complaint for 4 months and to this day over 2.5yrs later they NEVER resolved my complaint!  They then never sent me Lisa’s medical records – When I finally did get them months later – they also gave them to her parents – who were not her surrogate and had no right to them (that is not an issue between my in-laws and me) but it’s a matter of courtesy that I couldn’t get her records, still can’t get her death certificate from the state of Florida that lists manner and cause – I have to go through the 1st funeral home where we did her Funeral Mass.  There was a huge breakdown at JMH – I filed the complaint, I told LAORA – (Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency) about what Mr Frederick said to me – I told it to the nurse that took over the procument of Lisa’s organs – Maggie – LAORA was the ONLY agency that allowed me to sign one piece of paper allowing which organs Lisa would donate to save lives… the rest of lisa’s file is stamped – “unable to complete” – yet I was there at the exact same time as her ambulance – asking to fill out admission forms.

4. Contact the GLMA – Gay/Lesbian Medical Association – they have made our situation a priority and even started the facebook group “Committee for Fair Visitation at JMH”.

While my federal case has halted, I know I had the best legal minds on our side – Beth Littrell – from the amazing people of Lambda Legal and Don Hayden from Baker/McKenzie (he is based in Miami).  Please send them thank yous for their wisdom in taking our case.

Finally – I am trying to figure out how I go from plaintiff to activist… and if the laws in Florida don’t support me holding Lisa’s hand – except during the Last Rites which I asked for them to find me a priest – then something has to change.  The Laws must change – so I have my map up here at home of Florida State, and all their local reps/senators are listed.  And I will be writing to them on Feb 19th (lisa’s death date) and 10/08 (her birth date) every year – to remind them how inhumanly we were treated… the judge agreed – and I still have never received an apology.

Ok so you caught me in a fired up mood – I was just dubbing Lisa and my Holy union from 1991 from VHS to DVD so it’s not lost forever.  I will try to find the links for all the agencies and put a new header to the Left for “what you can do”.

Thank you all beyond words for your continued support.  I any of you have contacts in mainstream media outlets – send them my story – I believed if more people knew that Lisa was allowed to die allow – then I would hope this could never happen again.

peace always

look for the new links tomorrow – or google them now.  Thanks you all for your continuing support

tongue in cheek – reasons to oppose gay marriage

by Beth Maclvor Martinelli  (according to a FB post.. if that was incorrect in giving Beth credit, I would be happy to change this)

1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.

 

2. Marriage is valuable because it produces children, which is why we deny marriage rights to infertile couples and old people.

3. Obviously, gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

4. Straight marriage, such as Britney Spears’ 55-hour escapade, will be less meaningful if gay marriage is allowed.

5. Marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all: women are property, matches are arranged in childhood, blacks can’t marry whites, Catholics can’t marry Jews, divorce is illegal, and adultery is punishable by death.

6. Gay marriage should be decided by people, not the courts, because majority-elected legislatures have historically protected the rights of minorities.

7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

8. There is no separation between religious marriage and legal marriage, because there is no separation of church and state.

9. Devout, faithful Anglicans should never accept same-sex marriage, because it is an affront to the traditional family values upheld by Henry VIII and his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and his wife, Anne Boleyn, and his wife, Jane Seymour, and his wife, Anne of Cleves, and his wife, Catherine Howard, and his wife, Catherine Parr. They all knew the meaning of marriage and none of them lost their heads over the matter.

10. Married gay people will encourage others to be gay, in a way that unmarried gay people do not.

11. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because dogs have legal standing and can sign marriage contracts.

12. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to legislative change in general, which could possibly include the legalization of polygamy and incest. Because we don’t know what comes next, we should never change our laws.

13. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why single parents are forbidden to raise children.

14. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven’t adapted to things like suburban malls and tupperware parties.

15. Legal marriage will inspire gays to mimic the straight traditions of spiritual commitment ceremonies and celebratory parties, which is currently impermissible for them to do and which they have never done before.

16. Marriage is designed to protect the well-being of children. Gay people do not need marriage because they never have children from prior relationships, artificial insemination or surrogacy, or adoption.

17. Civil unions are a good option because “separate but equal” institutions are always constitutional. In fact, compared with marriage, civil unions are so attractive that straight people are calling dibs on them.

18. A man should not be able to marry whomever a woman can marry, and a woman should not be able to marry whomever a man can marry, because in this country we do not believe in gender equality.

19. If gays marry, some of straight people’s tax dollars would end up going to families whose structure they may find morally objectionable. Clearly, it is more just to continue taking gay people’s tax dollars to support straight families, who are going to heaven regardless of what anyone else thinks of them.

20. Gays should hold off on the marriage question until society is more accepting of them, because they are not part of society.

21. The people’s voice must be heard on this issue. Therefore, we must have a referendum on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, because we can’t think of any other way to discuss the issue.

22. Each state should decide for itself whether gay marriage will be recognized, because there is no “full faith and credit” clause that requires states to recognize each other’s institutions.

23. Gay marriage attempts to replace natural heterosexual instinct with a cultural institution. Morality demands that we subordinate institutionalized commitment to raw, unfettered, biological impulse.

24. Gay marriages could very well suffer maladies like domestic violence and substance abuse. That’s why we invented the Quality Control department to pre-approve the righteousness of all marriage applicants, such as convicted serial killer Richard Ramirez who married a woman while on Death Row.

25. Those who support gay marriage aim to overthrow the dominant culture, as evidenced by their enthusiasm to participate in it.

26. The country can’t afford to provide benefits for married gay couples. That’s why Bush would never consider spending $150 million on programs that encourage more straight people to get married.

27. Gay couples do not deserve marriage because, if everyone on earth limited themselves to same-sex sexual behavior, humanity would soon be extinct. Based on the same concern, we also deny marriage rights to the biologically childless and to those who have borne only one child. (We are also considering denying marriage rights to those who have borne three or more children, because if everyone copied them, the world population would shoot through the roof.)

28. Marriage was created in the Bible as a bond between a man and a woman. The people who lived prior to the writing of the Bible, such as the Chinese, sat around in confusion for many years until the Mesopotamians finally came around and invented the family unit.

weekend update (no it’s not SNL)

Gma/Papa arrived on Thursday to a full schedule – Katie soccer practice, Danielle Soccer game and David football practice

Friday was a little slower- kids to school – David was off from Waldorf

Had the buckley/martin’s over for dinner – great food, great company on friday night

Saturday – the mad dash to do it all Gma took the girls shopping – David no interest (as usual he is not into shopping – a pair of levis and an orange shirt is good for him)

Then Katie had a soccer game and David had the first round of fball playoffs.

Katie lost 1-0, bummer.  David won in his game 14-6 in a horrible downpour.. I haven’t seen it rain that hard here in a LONG time

Sunday – Danielle went to Mass with Gma/Papa and then down to the farmers market they went with the kids

Michael was suppose to be down for pumpkin patch at 1:30- didn’t arrive till after 3 – shorten our time to about 10 mins with him there – the other kids ran the corn maze while waiting

off to Farrelli’s pizza with the whole family and then Michael and his staff had to get back home

Gma/Papa left just a little after that – they have the first flight out tomorrow back to cold Connecticut

Helped Katie study for her social studies test – differences in Sunni and Shiites and Islam in general.  It’s the only subject she is have a little trouble with.

And we are back at it tomorrow with 3 kids – technically 4 schools (b/c Katie has to play volleyball at our home MS – her performing arts school doesn’t have sports) Danielle soccer,

David film night for football (their center who had broke his wrist on second day of practice) fractured his arm in the game – bad, poor Dylan had 3 breaks in 2 years – and he is a tough kid

So that is the sum total of our weekend.  Good visit with the in-laws – g’ma/gpa.

Looking forward to the podcast on 10/27 – will repost how to log on so you can hear it if you like

Something is up with my back again, hurting like it did pre-surgery – see the doc on Thursday – hopefully it’s just sore muscles

still figuring out how to navigate the new waters between plaintiff to activist.  Fortunately have an wonderful role model in Charlene Strong

and continue to be beyond grateful for Lambda Legal – Beth and Don were the best council I could have hoped for

David looks like he will get to Page for our local Rep (Brendan Williams) during the State  leg session – for his Waldorf 8th grade project – very exciting.

It’s late, kids are all asleep already – the rains have returned and it is getting dark earlier and earlier now.

have a great week all – catch you on fb or here

peace

10.18.09

10.18.09

(left to right – Michael, David, Danielle, Katie)

recent article-well written

Imagine having only five minutes to say goodbye to your dying husband or wife of nearly two decades. Imagine being a 10-year-old girl and being physically blocked from saying a last, “I love you,” to your mother, who is just down the hall at the hospital. This may sound unconscionable, but it happened, just as described, to the Langbehn-Pond family at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

As reported in The Miami Herald by Steve Rothaus, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed the lawsuit filed against Jackson Memorial Hospital by the family. As a society, we should not dismiss it. Their story is about the fragility of human rights. It underscores how vulnerable and unprotected gay people are in society.

Lisa Marie Pond and Janice Langbehn were together for 18 years, the majority of their adult lives. They were two moms raising four children. They were a loving family.

In honor of their anniversary, Janice surprised her family with a cruise. On Feb. 18, 2007 they boarded the Norwegian Jewel in the Port of Miami. Shortly after boarding, Lisa, a healthy 39-year-old, suffered a brain aneurysm and had to be rushed to a local hospital.

The admitting clerk and a hospital social worker refused to let Janice and the children see Lisa. Janice has stated that a hospital social worker told her “that she should not expect to be provided information or access because she was in an anti-gay city and state.”

Doctors at the hospital told Janice that there was no medical reason why she could not be with Lisa. For eight grueling hours, she was repeatedly denied details and visitation. There should have been no doubt that Janice was Lisa’s family, and the hospital had the legal documents with Lisa’s directives.

Lisa was allegedly semi-conscious and responsive at the time of her arrival at Jackson and for several hours afterward. She had to be put in restraints because she did not have a family member with her. When a priest arrived to administer Lisa’s last rites, Janice was allowed to spend five minutes holding her partner’s hand.

This is a heartbreaking and inhumane story that highlights the need for tolerance and understanding over prejudice and discrimination. As a mother, a partner and a social worker, I feel deeply affected by this case particularly because the events mirror my own experiences. Coincidently, I was on that cruise with my family. It was an RFamily cruise sponsored by Rosie and Kelly O’Donnell to celebrate gay families.

Ten years ago, my life partner had a similar head trauma when we were on a family ski vacation in Colorado. She fell while snowboarding and suffered a subdural hemorrhage, the same head trauma that killed actress Natasha Richardson. The emergency-room nurse let me in without hesitation. It never crossed my mind that I might be denied access to my partner because we were gay. I was able to hold her hand as she asked me to make sure our nine-month-old son would be OK.

My partner survived. I am so sorry Lisa did not. I am horrified by what her partner and their children had to endure. She and her family will be forever in my thoughts and prayers.

Unable to make any progress with the inhumane gatekeepers at Jackson the night Lisa lay dying alone, Janice described going outside and screaming into the Miami night. I look out at that same night sky now and think of Janice.

These are Janice’s own words from a speech she gave last year in California: “No one should have been able to deny our children and [me] the ability to say goodbye to Lisa and let her know — if only be holding her hand — that she was so loved. That should not be a privilege in our country but a basic human right of every family regardless of how they define themselves.”

Joanna Grover lives in Miami.

Barb and Donna interview Janice Langbehn on the Lisa Pond Story

Plaintiff to Activist – I’m trying to take hold of history and continue my work to speak out on gay/human rights. Podcast on 10/27/09 at 6:30 ET/3:30 PT.  Please tune in to my chat with Barb and Donna.

Barb and Donna interview Janice Langbehn on the Lisa Pond Story

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