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Same-sex couple rights approved

Published (3/4/2010)
By Lauren Radomski
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Partners in same-sex relationships could have a say in each other’s health care under a bill receiving committee approval.

Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Mpls) sponsors HF3086, which would include domestic partners in provisions governing health care rights. Under the bill, someone in a committed same-sex relationship would be able to request access to their partner’s medical records, provide informed consent for their partner’s medical procedure, consent to an autopsy and authorize organ donation – actions currently restricted to heterosexual spouses and next of kin.

The bill was approved March 2 by the House Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee and sent to the House Civil Justice Committee. A companion, SF2763, sponsored by Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon (DFL-Duluth), awaits action by the Senate Health, Housing and Family Security Committee.

Thissen’s bill defines domestic partners as two same-sex adults who live together on a permanent basis and have assumed responsibility for each other’s financial obligations and general well-being. According to the bill, domestic partners have a “committed interdependent relationship” with each other and no one else.

Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, said that definition “injects confusion and ambiguity into the law” and could cause conflict among family members. Prichard said the legislation attempts to set a precedent by giving same-sex couples the same kind of “legal obligations” reserved only for married couples.

“I would imagine many people that would like this bill to pass would love to have those legal obligations to each other but can’t,” Thissen replied. He said the provisions in the bill are common sense, as domestic partnerships are already recognized in many ways across the state.

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