Tag Archives: Elderly

Sonoma County , CA Pays $600,000.00 Out Of Court Settlement Over Elderly Gay Discrimination Case

Clay Green (pictured left) sued Sonoma County,CA claiming his sexual orientation caused social workers to keep him from his dying partner and led them to sell off the couple’s belongings.  Yesterday Somona County settled the case out of court paying $600,000.00 to “avoid further expenses”.  (Further expenses like the MILLIONS you would have been forced to pay when you were found guilty perhaps?)

The case grabbed national media attention with its shocking claims of abuse at the hands of those meant to protect the frail and vulnerable. Gay rights groups pummeled county officials with strident e-mails and some threatened a boycott of county tourism and wines.

Greene, 78, said in his lawsuit that as his partner lay dying in a hospital bed, officials denied visitation and ignored signed wills, medical declarations and powers of attorney, naming each as the other’s spouse and that officials forced Greene into a nursing home and then sold off the couple’s household belongings, including art and other heirlooms, carting off choice pieces for themselves.  Greene also said he was subjected to ridicule about his sexual orientation. It named as defendants Jo Weber, director of Human Services; Michael Brewster, deputy public guardian; and conservators Sally Liedholm and Karin Stagg-Hourigan.

The county’s lawyer, Gregory Spaulding
Read the whole shocking story by CLICKING HERE

HEARTBREAKING OUTRAGE! – Elderly Gay Samona County, California Couple Forcibly Separated, Abused, Robbed By County – CALL TO ACTION!

This is shocking, angering, outrageous, and disgusting!’

From NCLR:

Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place—wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.

One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold’s care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes.

Ignoring Clay’s significant role in Harold’s life, the county continued to treat Harold like he had no family and went to court seeking the power to make financial decisions on his behalf. Outrageously, the county represented to the judge that Clay was merely Harold’s “roommate.” The court denied their efforts, but did grant the county limited access to one of Harold’s bank accounts to pay for his care.

What happened next is even more chilling: without authority, without determining the value of Clay and Harold’s possessions accumulated over the course of their 20 years together or making any effort to determine which items belonged to whom, the county took everything Harold and Clay owned and auctioned off all of their belongings. Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Clay from his home and confined him to a nursing home against his will. The county workers then terminated Clay and Harold’s lease and surrendered the home they had shared for many years to the landlord.

Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in the nursing home. Because of the county’s actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 20 years. Compounding this tragedy, Clay has literally nothing left of the home he had shared with Harold or the life he was living up until the day that Harold fell, because he has been unable to recover any of his property. The only memento Clay has is a photo album that Harold painstakingly put together for Clay during the last three months of his life.

With the help of a dedicated and persistent court-appointed attorney, Anne Dennis of Santa Rosa, Clay was finally released from the nursing home. Ms. Dennis, along with Stephen O’Neill and Margaret Flynn of Tarkington, O’Neill, Barrack & Chong, now represent Clay in a lawsuit against the county, the auction company, and the nursing home, with technical assistance from NCLR. A trial date has been set for July 16, 2010 in the Superior Court for the County of Sonoma

Okay, now I want to know where the FUCK is the HRC, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Kendall, Minter and the fucking ACLU are and have been while all this is happening?  (Knowing the ACLU they are too busy representing The Westboro Baptist Church)

This is a Human Rights, Civil Liberties and a Gay and Lesbian issuse. Now get off your well paid asses and do something!

As for the rest of us.  Spread the word on this story. Contact any and all newspapers, blogs,  media outlets, radio, ect.

Contact the local Sanoma County newspaper the Press Democrat and ask them why they aren’t covering this.

EXERT PRESSURE!

letters@pressdemocrat.com
The Press Democrat
427 Mendocino Ave., P. O. Box 569, Santa Rosa, CA 95402
Newsroom: (800) 675-5056
Newsroom number, 707-526-8585, between 8:30 a.m. and midnight (Pacific Time)
General newsroom fax, (including for calendar items), 707-521-5330
Newsroom mailing address: P.O. Box 910, Santa Rosa, CA 95402

JOIN THE FACEBOOK PAGE “JUSTICE FOR CLAY GREENE AND HAROLD OF SONOMA COUNTY, CA”.

Do this not only for Clay and Harold but do this also for ypurselves because one day it might be you!

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!