The case tells about an elderly lesbian interracial couple Ruth and Janice. They have been living together for 42 years in a small town in a Southern state. However, due to a car accident, Ruth suffered a life-threatening condition and now the couple faces a challenge that entails complications in the various fronts of life. As Ruth has to receive long-term nursing care through Medicare and Medicaid, the couple faces a financial issue associated with healthcare. In addition, during the process, Ruth and Janice had to deal with issues associated with their identity of being a lesbian interracial couple. This included issues with internalized homophobia and institutional heterosexism.
After leg and shoulder surgeries, Ruth was placed in the nursing home, where the couple faced first complications, such as a heterosexual bias of workers, and the forms, which had to be filled out, did not recognize the long-term lesbian relationship as an option. Hence, there was no legal way that Janice could be legally recognized as Ruth’s official next of kin. This fact and the background of keeping their private life secret caused the couple to conceal the fact that they were in long-term intimate relationships with the staff. Nevertheless, Janice delivered clothes and personal items to Ruth and remained present in her room daily, which caused concerns among the nurses who treated her with coldness.
The second challenge was financial and property concerns. As Ruth and Janice could not get married legally in this state, such a life-threatening situation made them vulnerable to the loss of property due to the death of one of the women. Hence, they had to find alternative solutions to ensure that the house they shared would belong to one of them after the death of their partner. Overall, the case resembles how vulnerable sexual minorities can be and how many more obstacles and challenges they face to receive what is considered a norm for heterosexual people. The emotional burden of a life-threatening accident was doubled by the internalized homophobia experienced by the staff and anxieties regarding the lack of legal confirmation of their relationships. Luckily, Joseph was able to help Ruth and Janice to find solutions to their challenges and protect them from institutional heterosexism via timely intervention.