A Little Compassion for All : Extending rights to non-traditional families

It doesn’t take the U.S. Census Bureau to tell us that something fundamental is changing in the American household. But the 1990 census was startling nonetheless. In Los Angeles County, for example, barely a quarter of households were found to be “Ozzie and Harriett”-type families. Even in Orange County, once the bastion of suburban family life, only 28.1% of households were “traditional”--that is, married couples with young children.

Laguna Beach, home to a large population of homosexuals, is even more distant from the nostalgic stereotype of the family; only 13.1% of households consisted of married couples with young children. It’s no surprise, then, that Laguna Beach has became one of a handful of U.S. cities to adopt an ordinance extending to non-traditional couples some of the rights previously enjoyed only by marrieds.

Under the new ordinance, approved this week, non-traditional refers not just to lesbian and gay couples but also to two heterosexuals living together, including elderly couples who do not want to marry because they would risk losing Social Security benefits. However, the primary focus of the ordinance is Laguna Beach’s gay male population, which has been devastated by the AIDS epidemic in recent years.

Robert F. Gentry, the city’s openly gay mayor, whose partner died of AIDS, has lobbied for several years for a measure that would allow gays to visit critically ill partners in hospitals or claim their bodies when they die--privileges usually granted only to spouses or other family members.

Laguna Beach isn’t the only community to grant such recognition. San Francisco, Berkeley, West Hollywood and Seattle have acted similarly.

Surely others could follow, including Los Angeles. It’s little enough to offer to people confronting the deaths of loved ones.