Civil liberties

Progress

This is a big deal, and a big accomplishment which, I'm sure, the president won't get credit for:

Under the new protocol, initiated last April and developed over the following months, hospitals partaking in Medicare and Medicaid must now allow all patients to decide visitation rights, as well as who to entrust with making medical decisions on their behalf, regardless of sexual or gender identity.

"This policy impacts millions of LGBT Americans and their families. The President saw an injustice and felt very strongly about correcting this and has spoken about it often over the years," White House deputy director of public engagement Brian Bond wrote on the White House blog.

I'm still not sure how anyone can accuse this president of turning his back on progressive ideas and, specifically, the LGBT community.

(via Ashby)