Elderly Gay Couple Forcibly Separated, Abused, Robbed By County Officials in Californ

[Sasha]

Greene v. County of Sonoma et al.



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.


source: http://www.nclrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issue_caseDocket_Greene_v_Coun ty_of_Sonoma_et_al

[Stand Your Ground]

I just got this in my email. You can sign a petition here: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6535/t/9634/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2441

[Mendax]

That's a pretty horific story - It'd be nice to see some physical protests happening especially since there seems to have been a rise in sexuality descrimination recently :/

[The Feral Underclass]

That's absolutely gob-smacking. I can't fucking believe that shit.

[Comrade Gwydion]

ugh..... This is terrible. I'm seriously almost to tears. And to think this is probably but the tip of the iceberg...

[Spawn of Stalin]

That's pretty disgusting stuff. 'Nuff said.

[Obrero Rebelde]

Yes, I read of this case and posted it in various queer, elderly and disability/independent living rights movement sites. And yes, this is just the tip of the iceberg. A disability rights contact I know in Sonoma County is helping to coordinate politically on the issue. As with most elderly and disabled rights political organizing efforts, it's not easy to get this specific demographic physically out to protest publicly due to mobility and other health restrictions. That's where the able community activists are very needed -- to show mass support for their cause.

[Sasha]

dan savage on the case:


Depressing—But Required—Reading

Posted by Dan Savage (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/ArticleArchives?author=259) on Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 5:44 PM

http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2010/04/19/1271724571-harold_clay.jpg
Here's a PDF of the complaint (http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2010/04/19/1271722918-greene_v_sonoma_county.pdf) filed in Sonoma County, California, today in the case of the elderly gay couple—Harold Scull and Clay Greene—who were forcibly separated when Scull fell ill, kept from each other as Scull lay dying, and Greene was ultimately robbed of all of his possessions and all of the property he shared with Scull. It's a fucking nightmare:
On or about June 28 and continuing through August 2008, Defendants ACV, DILLINGHAM, COUNTY, LIEDHOLM, STAGG-HOURIGAN, BREWSTER, and others and each of them, did not allow Plaintiff GREENE access to [Harold Scull], his partner of 25 years, who was terminally ill. On or about June 28 and continuing through August 2008, Defendants ACV, DILLINGHAM, COUNTY, LIEDHOLM, STAGG-HOURIGAN, BREWSTER, and others and each of them, falsely imprisoned Plaintiff GREENE, keeping him behind a locked gate at Defendant ACV's premises and restricting and limiting his movements and communications with his friends, family, and the general public.... Plaintiff was put in fear of physical harm, was and felt intimidated and attacked, and remains fearful that he will be chased down and locked up again. On or about August, 2008, Defendants MICHAEL BREWSTER and KAREN STAGG-HOURIGAN, as employees of the COUNTY acting in their official capacities... did disparage and demean Plaintiff GREENE in his presence and in the presence of others, making and/or ratifying derogatory references to Plaintiff GREENE's sexual orientation and age, stating "you know how those 'gay boys' are"...
After [Harold Scull's] death, Defendants BREWSTER and STAGG-HOURIGAN further expressed displeasure at dealing with expressions of grief by a gay man who had lost his long-time partner.
Harold Scull worked for MGM studios in the 1950s and 60s—he worked with Louis B. Mayer—and, according to the complaint, Scull had "collected numerous artifacts and memorabilia from that period, many of which were displayed in his home. Greene worked in television, "working with many stars early in their careers," and also had a large collection of memorabilia. Everything they owned together—their mementos, art, furniture, their car, family heirlooms—was sold out from under them without their consent.
Go read the whole thing (http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2010/04/19/1271722918-greene_v_sonoma_county.pdf). Or if you prefer your tragedies in English and not legalese (http://nclrights.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/nclr-launches-visibility-campaign-to-expose-tragic-case-where-sonoma-county-separated-elderly-gay-couple-sold-off-all-belongings/)...

Clay Greene and his partner of 20 years, Harold Scull, lived in Sebastopol, California. As long-time partners, they had named each other beneficiaries of their respective estates and agents for medical decisions. As 2008 began, Scull was 88 years old and in deteriorating health.... In April of 2008, Scull fell down the front steps of their home. Greene immediately called an ambulance and Scull was taken to the hospital. There, the men’s nightmare began. While Scull was hospitalized, Deputy Public Guardians went to the men’s home, took photographs, and commented on the desirability and quality of the furnishings, artwork, and collectibles that the men had collected over their lifetimes. Ignoring Greene entirely, the County petitioned the Court for conservatorship of Scull’s estate. Outrageously referring to Greene only as a “roommate” and failing to disclose their true relationship, the County continued to treat Scull as if he had no family. The County sought immediate temporary authority to revoke Scull’s powers of attorney, to act without further notice, and to liquidate an investment account to pay for Scull’s care. Then, despite being granted only limited powers, and with undue haste, the County arranged for the sale of the men’s personal property, cleaned out their home, terminated their lease, confiscated their truck, and eventually disposed of all of the men’s worldly possessions, including family heirlooms, at a fraction of their value and without any proper inventory or determination of whose property was being sold.
Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Greene from their home and confined him to a nursing home against his will—a different placement from his partner. Greene was kept from seeing Scull during this time, and his telephone calls were limited. Three months after Scull was hospitalized, he died, without being able to see Greene again.
“Because of the county’s actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 20 years,” said Greene’s trial attorney Anne Dennis of Santa Rosa. “Compounding this horrific 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 or his beloved cats—who are feared dead. The only memento Clay has is a photo album that Harold painstakingly put together for Clay during the last three months of his life.”



source: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/04/19/depressingbut-requiredreading

[The Red Next Door]

I hope these fuckers can't sleep at night or better i hope they die. A horrible slow death.

[Sasha]

Sonoma County Officials: Clay Assaulted Harold (http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/04/20/sonoma-county-officials-clay-assaulted-harold)

Posted by Dan Savage (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/ArticleArchives?author=259) on Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 3:47 PM

So the Press Democrat—Sonoma County's newspaper—finally weighs in on (http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100420/ARTICLES/100429976/1033?p=1&tc=pg#) Clay Greene's lawsuit:

In a lawsuit that has sparked a firestorm within the gay community, a Guerneville man claims that Sonoma County officials prevented him from being with his dying partner of 25 years, forced him into a nursing home and then sold all of the couple’s possessions. The multi-million dollar suit alleges that Clay Greene, 78, was barred from visiting Harold Scull, 88, as he lay in a Santa Rosa hospital bed in 2008, and that Greene was eventually placed in a Sonoma Valley care facility against his will.
A lawyer for Sonoma County denied the allegations, saying the two men were kept apart as part of a domestic violence case. Greg Spaulding, who represents past and present county employees named in the lawsuit, said Scull was hospitalized after he was attacked by Greene and their belongings were sold to cover expenses for their care.
If Greene attacked Scull—and if Greene hurt Scull so badly that Scull had to be hospitalized—then at the very least Greene was guilty of assault. Did Sonoma County go to the police? Did they report this attack? Greene never recovered; he died during that hospitalization. Do county officials believe that Scull's death the result of the injuries they allege he suffered at the hands of his partner of 25 years? If so, again, why didn't they call the police?



it gets nastier.

[anticap]

Someone should change this story so that it's about a heterosexual married couple, and change the placenames and other such details, and turn it into an e-mail chainletter. Then, after it propagates a while and the outrage reaches a climax, send out another chainletter containing both the altered story and the true one, and explain that the story had been altered, but give no explanation as to why, and don't make any snide remarks about it, but just leave it at that and let people stew on it for themselves. Some will maintain their hypocrisy and justify it somehow (probably on religious grounds), but many will probably have an epiphany.