Angry judge orders treatment for activist

SUMMARY: In an emergency hearing on Wednesday, a judge in Broward County, Fla., ordered an AIDS service agency and a hospital to help a sick man who is also one of the most influential gay activists in the county.

In an emergency hearing on Wednesday, a judge in Broward County, Fla., ordered an AIDS service agency and a hospital to help a sick man who is also one of the most influential gay activists in the county.

County Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren, who presides over mental health cases, was "enraged" that the Broward General Hospital's psychiatric unit and Broward House, a nonprofit service agency, would not assist Gary Steinsmith, whose physical and mental health has been ravaged by AIDS, according to the Miami Herald.

"Just help him," Lerner-Wren told representatives of Broward House. "Treat him. I am ordering you to treat this man."

In recent months Steinsmith had become very sick and destitute, according to the Herald. On Nov. 1 he was arrested for trespassing at a Marriott hotel in Fort Lauderdale. He was transferred from the county jail on Tuesday to Broward General, but hospital officials sent him back to jail Wednesday because he was not "sufficiently mentally ill."

After the Wednesday hearing, Steinsmith was admitted to a Fort Lauderdale hospital, and Broward House agreed to provide case management services.

Broward House CEO Tom Shidaker told the Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network his agency denied Steinsmith a place in the assisted living facility because it does not provide psychiatric care.

"That facility would not have been right for Gary at this time," said Shidaker, who has known Steinsmith for 14 years. He also denied that Steinsmith's finances were a factor in the decision, as the Herald reported.

Steinsmith, 44, had been president of the county's Dolphin Democratic Club in the early 1990s. He had also served on the Broward County Democratic Executive Committee, the county HIV Health Services Planning Council and the Advisory Board for Persons with Disabilities.

"He's the most well-known gay activist in Broward County," Shane Gunderson, who replaced Steinsmith as the Dolphin Club's president, told the Herald.

Steinsmith reportedly called County Commissioner Lori Parrish to help him get out of jail early Wednesday morning. Parrish, who said the community "owes Gary respect," made several calls, including one to an official at Broward House.

"I told him he wouldn't have his job," she said, "and his damn place wouldn't exist if it weren't for Gary Steinsmith and his good work."

Shidaker acknowledged that Steinsmith was part of a group that helped get funding to start Broward House, which opened in 1988.