Imagine
this: two lovers have spent 20 years together. As they grew older, the couple
took extra precautions to protect their relationship in case of illness and
their estate in case of death–hiring attorneys, obtaining medical directives
and compiling wills. All to make sure that if one of the two were to die, the
other could inherit the deceased’s property. Then, a county government chooses
to completely ignore all of the legal documents the couple had filed, which
leaves them separated and with their property repossessed for only one reason:
they are a homosexual couple.
Unfortunately,
this is not an imagined story. It is the story of Clay Greene and Harold Scull
of Sebastopol, Calif. The two had been together for over 20 years as of 2008,
when Harold, who was 88 years old at the time, began to have health problems.
Harold and Clay named themselves as beneficiaries for their estate in case
anything were to happen.
One
day, Harold fell down the steps in front of the couple’s house and was taken to
the hospital. The county ignored Harold and Clay’s relationship and legal
directives, and Clay was not allowed to visit his partner in the hospital. To
make the matter even more destructive, Clay was taken against his will to a
nursing home while Harold was placed in a separate one.
As
they lay separated from each other, the county sold all of Clay and Harold’s
possessions, including their home, at auction without paying any compensation.
Harold’s
health continued to deteriorate and he eventually died, leaving behind only a
photo album he had struggled to make for his lover during the last months of
his life. The couple that had been together for two decades was deprived of
spending their little remaining time together due to their sexual orientation.
With
the assistance of a court-appointed lawyer, Clay was released from the nursing
home and is filing charges against the county, the nursing home and the auction
company for the devastation he was forced to endure.
Discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation is one example of capitalism’s brutal
crimes. The oppressive treatment of human beings based on their sexual
orientation, their nationality or their gender is useful to those who benefit
from the division of the working class: the capitalist owners. The PSL stands
with our LGBT brothers and sisters in the continued struggle for equality.
