More than doubling the portion of the United States population living in jurisdictions where same-sex couples are entitled to marry, New York
More than doubling the portion of the United States population living in jurisdictions where same-sex couples are entitled to marry, New York
A side comment: Last fall, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services adopted a new regulation, codified at 42 CFR 482.13, requiring hospitals that participate in Medicaid or Medicare to have patient access rules that include respect for access rights of same-sex partners of patients. This would seem to override the NY Marriage Equality Law religious exception with respect to patient contact. It does not take care of any problems on decision-making authority, however, so married same-sex couples would still be well-advised to have powers of attorney (also useful for when traveling in a state that doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages). I am still not 100% sure whether the religious exception language includes hospitals affiliated with religious orders, but I think it is likely to apply. The Obama Administration regulation applies only to hospitals and “specialized providers” who participate in Medicaid or Medicare.