"We are always the same age inside."
-Gertrude
Stein
Despite advances in LGBT civil rights, many
older adult care providers never stop to
consider that their older clients may be
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT).
And sometimes those who do know may not know
how to provide services in
culturally-sensitive ways.
As a result, LGBT older adults often avoid seeking needed services out of fear of discrimination. The tendency for LGBT older adults to go "back in the closet" is particularly pronounced in situations where they are most vulnerable - such as when accessing home health care or residing in assisted living or residential care facilities. One study indicated that LGBT older adults may be as much as five times less likely to access needed health and social services because of their fear of discrimination from the very people who should be helping them.
This type of social isolation has an enormous impact in the health and well-being of LGBT older adults. With LGBT older adults twice as likely to live alone than heterosexual older adults, more than four times as likely to have no children, the informal caregiving support we assume is in place for older adults may not be there for LGBT elders.
LGBT people face a number of particular challenges as they age. They often do not have access to adequate health care, affordable housing and other social services that they need due to institutionalized heterosexism and transphobia.
Mainstream senior providers have limited information or training in how to appropriately work with and serve our diverse communities. Existing regulations and proposed policy changes in programs like Social Security or Medicare, which impact millions of LGBT elders, are discussed without LGBT views and interests as part of the debate.
LINKS:
Care
and Aging With Pride
Gay Rights: Articles on LGBT Aging Issues
SAGE: Services & Advocacy for LGBT Elders
LGBT Aging Project
National Resource Center on LGBT Aging
LGBT Aging Issues Network
NGLTF: Issues of Aging for LGBT People
Center for American Progress: Protecting our
LGBT Elders
CHALLENGES OF LGBT SENIORS
Wellbeing of LGBT Elders
There are many challenges faced by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender elderly community.
Family and support networks can be critical
to the wellbeing of the elderly. Due to
homophobia and other factors, LGBT elderly
may not have strong ties to traditional
social support networks such as adult
children to provide care, extended family or
faithbased support, and frequently end up
relying on friends and service agencies.
A recent Met
Life survey noted that 27% of LGBT baby
boomers reported great concern about
discrimination as they age and less than
half expressed strong confidence that they
will be treated “with dignity and respect”
by healthcare professionals.
Financial
challenges include inability to transfer
assets such as social security, Medicare,
Medicaid and pensions to the surviving
partner.
The same Met Life survey indicated that 51% of LGBT Baby Boomers indicated they have yet to complete wills that spell out their long term and end of life wishes. This is of concern since LGBT partnerships frequently are not recognized legally in matters of health care decisions and finances.
LINKS:
NGLTF: Challenges Facing LGBT Elders
Senior Pride Network
Education Resources for Older LGBT People
Future of Aging: First Congressional
Briefing on LGBT Aging
Common Dreams:
LGBT Aging Issues Take Center Stage on
Capitol Hill
Old Lesbians
Organizing for Change
Still Out, Still Aging
Mautner
Project: Fact Sheet on LGBT Aging
You Tube: Ignored Needs of Elderly
Homosexual Community
You Tube: Gay, Elderly and Alone in New York
You Tube:
Gordon & Elliott, Gay and Over 75
HAROLD & CLAY
Tragic Story of Elderly Gay Couple
After 20 years of living together in their Sonoma County home, an elderly gay couple, Harold Scull and Clay Greene, were suddenly separated in April 2008 when Scull was injured in their home and had to be hospitalized. Greene was placed in a separate assisted living facility, and Scull died three months later without the two seeing each other again.
Now Greene is suing the county, saying that county officials not only kept the men apart without recognizing the nature of their relationship but also took control of their finances and auctioned off their possessions without their permission. Greene is seeking an undisclosed amount, and the trial began July 27.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is assisting in Greene’s defense, claims the officials failed to recognize that Scull, 88, and Greene, 77, were a couple, although they had named each other in their wills and granted each other power of attorney. They also say that county officials exploited the nature of Scull and Greene’s relationship to their own material gain: county employees sent to review the contents of the house commented on their possessions, saying how much they would like certain items for themselves. When Greene objected, he was allegedly told to “shut up.” The county denies these accusations.
“Personally, it caused me to pause and it scared me, because if this can happen in Sonoma County it can happen anywhere,” said Amy Todd-Gher, the lead attorney for the NCLR team.
Only 45 minutes from San Francisco, Sonoma County is considered by many to be one of the most tolerant areas in the state, if not the country. Just a few months after this incident, 66.4 percent of county voters said no to Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that overturned the California Supreme Court’s May 2008 ruling that it was unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to marry.
“This is honestly one of the most tragic cases I have seen in my career,” Todd-Gher said. “I don’t know how you ever make a human being whole from all that Clay Greene has gone through in this case.” She argues that in ignoring the relationship between Greene and Scull, the county inflicted unnecessary pain on the couple. She believes that if they had recognized the two as partners “they would have found ways to place Harold and Clay together, instead of separating them and putting them into two separate facilities.”
The case might
be a call to action for other gay couples
whose relationship status might be in doubt.
“Certainly this case indicates how
vulnerable all LGBT elders can be,” said
Todd-Gher. Spaulding pointed out that the
case might give other couples an incentive
to register as domestic partners in the
absence of marriage rights.
LINKS:
PBS: Sonoma Lawsuit and Plight of Aging Gay
Couple
SAGE News: Sonoma County Settlement
Open House: Sonoma County Settles Gay Elders
Lawsuit
Huffington Post: Elderly Gay Couple Robbed
of Companionship and More
SILENT PIONEERS
Film About Elderly LGBT People
Contrary to the public stereotype of a youthful homosexual community, gay men and women do grow old. Silent Pioneers, a 1985 documentary film, presents an upbeat focus on the lives of these people today, showing them living full and diverse lives and sharing concerns on aging, health and housing, with other senior citizens. It also considers how support networks within the gay and lesbian community have enriched and strengthened their individual lives.
Directed by Lucy Winer and written by Patricia Snyder, Silent Pioneers is a remarkably candid film that openly explores age-related issues of older lesbians and gay men, revealing their experiences, struggles, hardships, and personal triumphs.
The men and women interviewed in this moving documentary lived their life stories during a period of time when homosexuality was considered to be a taboo topic. Among those interviewed are a male couple who have been together for over fifty-five years, a former monk who has made peace with his sexual orientation and religious values, and a great-grandmother who revealed her story to her grandchildren.
Proving that
homosexuals have monogamous, involved
relationships, this production helps to
dispel many commonly held stereotypes
regarding homosexuals. Also revealed in this
documentary is how this population's recent
emergence from an underground subculture
into the public eye has affected their
generation and the community as a whole.
LINKS:
Library Media: Issues of Aging
Film Maker's Library: Gay & Lesbian Elders
SENIOR PRIDE
Portraits of LGBT Elders
Richard Renaldi began his series of photographs of older gay and lesbians because he wanted to create beautiful and dignified portraits of this segment of America. He says, "Our culture is so consumed by its worship of youth that often we fail to see anything else. Just as gay and lesbian people have long felt invisible by the larger culture, so too are elderly gay men and women often ignored by younger members of the community."
Through his photographs Richard Renaldi tries to raise awareness about ageism. With his series of images of LGBT elders, he is also trying to broaden the scope of gay and lesbian society.
In discussing his photo project, Renaldi explains, "These portraits are all of gay and lesbian Americans who are over 64 years of age. I want to thank all of the people who opened up their homes and lives to me for participating in this project."