People with same-sex partners have a long history of legal discrimination and still face a long battle ahead. At least in England they discovered that death by hanging was an inappropriate ‘punishment’ and an ineffective deterrent, but in many places in the world you can still be jailed for exercising your sexual preference. One of the issues that affects the lives of people in same-sex relationships that needs attention is next of kin arrangements. Most health workers will have seen cases in hospital where a same-sex partner is kept away from their critically ill lover while the estranged family make all the decisions about their care. Many people are now registering their choice of next-of-kin with their lawyer and organising a power-of-attorney for their partner in case of emergency. As the law stands, homosexual relationships are not recognized as legally valid. If you die without a will your partner cannot make any claim. One of the pitfalls encountered by some gay men who have died of an AIDS-related illness is that their will was made out after they developed AIDS, so their biological families contest the will on the grounds that they were not ‘of sound mind’ because of dementia. The message here is to make sure you make out a will sooner rather than later. Other major legal issues that will undoubtedly be reviewed are the superannuation entitlements for partners, de facto status, and parenting rights.
In the workplace, there is definitely the risk of losing job opportunities. A lesbian music teacher was recently sacked from her job at a private girls’ school on the grounds that her sexuality ‘had become public knowledge’.
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