Image by bastique via Flickr
(Bay Windows)The March 2010 report entitled "Improving the Lives of LGBT Older Adults," authored by the LGBT Movement Advancement Project (MAP) and Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Elders (SAGE), offers a comprehensive examination of the challenges facing LGBT elders today, and an outline of changes that need to be made to improve their quality of life. The most effective change, not surprisingly, starts at home in local LGBT communities.
The AARP’s chief operating officer Tom Nelson writes in the report’s introduction, "LGBT individuals and the LGBT community at-large have a major role to play in determining the degree to which policy and advocacy issues that affect LGBT older adults are given appropriate consideration." Nelson cautions, however, that several of the issues raised in the report -- such as healthcare and Social Security -- need to be addressed on a nationwide scale. The AARP’s (formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons) participation in the report indicates this cooperation. "While many of the AARP are members of the LGBT community, the issues raised in this report extend beyond our membership and our organization," Nelson wrote. "It is not only a question of LGBT fairness -- the issues raised involve the fair treatment all Americans, and how our society will promote a secure retirement."
The definition of a "secure retirement" may differ from the mainstream for LGBT elders, however. This population, practically invisible until recently, can face struggles and challenges unique to their community. From the effects of social stigma and prejudice to reliance on "families of choice" rather than biological families, problems that have not been accounted for can spring up at any place along the path to a happy retirement.
According to "Improving the Lives of LGBT Older Adults," there are several things that can be done on the levels of community, state, and nation to improve the lives of LGBT elders. Federal marriage equality would ensure that spouses are eligible for their partner’s Social Security benefits, and enable same-sex couples to make medical decisions for one another. Changes in federal and state law could exempt same-sex couples from having to pay inheritance tax on their spouse’s estates (a that tax straight, married couples aren’t required to pay.) Non-discrimination laws could ensure that "family members of choice" are recognized as formal caregivers, and prohibit nursing homes and residential programs from discriminating against LGBT elders.
One of the highest hurdles, however, is the social isolation that many LGBT older adults feel. The SAGE/MAP report revealed that many LGBT elders feel unwelcome in healthcare and community settings, which can result in higher depression, poverty, re-hospitalization, delayed care-seeking, poor nutrition, or premature mortality.
The most reprehensible of situations that causes LGBT elders to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome is also, thankfully, the easiest to fix. The discomfort LGBT senior citizens feel in today’s modern lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities only hinders their access to a socially positive community that should welcome the bearers of its history with open arms. Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender older adults are going back into the closet after spending a lifetime (literally) fighting for equality, because they no longer feel they belong in our community. Not only do many seniors feel they don’t have a home in mainstream aging communities, but with us they are "homeless" as well.
Continue Reading
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_b.png?x-id=ae5a3a21-d5c4-4854-923c-e807aee4255d)
No comments:
Post a Comment