More details emerge regarding Missouri hospital debacle

Zack Ford at Think Progress has assembled new details about how gay couple, Roger Gorley and Allen Mansell, were treated at Research Medical Center in Missouri.

Included in his post is a detailed account from the daughter of the gay man who was handcuffed and removed from the bed side of his partner.

Among new information available today:

• Allen suffers from severe depression and is currently undergoing electro-shock treatment (ECT) twice a month because his medications are no longer allowing him to function normally.

• Allen has specifically excluded his family from having any say over his medical decisions because they have not been understanding of the impact of his depression.

• Not only have Roger and Allen granted each other power of attorney, but they are known throughout the hospital as a proud gay couple because they are regularly there for Allen’s treatments.

• Allen’s family has not been supportive of his relationship with Roger.

In light of new details coming to light today, Zack sums up the situation like this:

With these details, both the hospital’s and police’s actions seem more suspect, not less.

At the foundation of the story remains the fact that Roger and Allen’s relationship was treated as inferior.

Because they did not have a state-recognized marriage, they were regarded as legal strangers despite even having set up the available legal protections for each other.

Roger, in turn, was subjected not just to discrimination but police brutality and legal consequences.

This tragic story speaks volumes about the consequences of continuing to deny same-sex couples the right to marry and how they continue to be treated as second-class citizens.

Notably, not one conservative organization has mentioned this story since it broke.