President Obama has sent a memo to the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a new rule that would prevent hospitals from denying LGBT couples visitation rights. In the memo, the president had this to say:

“There are few moments in our lives that call for greater compassion and companionship than when a loved one is admitted to the hospital. … Yet every day, all across America, patients are denied the kindnesses and caring of a loved one at their sides.”

Gay and lesbian Americans are “uniquely affected” by relatives-only policies at hospitals, Obama said, adding that they “are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives — unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated.”

This new memorandum will apply only to those hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding. This is a huge first step by the president, and seems to be evidence that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is actually making progress in Washington, though to many in the community it has been very slow progress.