NY Confab to Confront Gay Elder Issues

By Amy Wooten, Windy City Times

October 8, 2008

In the next 20 or so years, the nation's senior population is expected to grow substantially. By 2030, elder advocates anticipate that the number of LGBT seniors will jump from 2.5 million to roughly 4.7 million.

While the mainstream aging community has overlooked this special segment of the senior population for decades, the times are changing. In less than a week, the national organization Services & Advocacy for GLBT Seniors ( SAGE ) will hold its 4th National Conference on LGBT Aging in New York. This year is special for two reasons. First, it will help mark SAGE's 30th anniversary. But more importantly, it is also the first time a mainstream aging organization is sponsoring the event. AARP is sponsoring the conference, titled “It's About Time: LGBT Aging in a Changing World,” which will take place Oct. 12-14.

Although seniors, both straight and LGBT, deal with many similar issues, there are several unique issues that LGBT elders face. According to SAGE, LGBT seniors are twice as likely to live alone; half as likely to have life partners or significant others; half as likely to not have close relatives to call for help; and four times less likely to have children to help them than their heterosexual counterparts.

Many senior services assume that elders have ongoing caregivers and family members on hand to help, which impacts both LGBT and heterosexual seniors who don't have such a support system. Additionally, because a large number of LGBT seniors might not have anybody to help care for them, they are less likely to go to the doctor or seek medical attention. They are also more likely to be unnecessarily institutionalized.

“These aren't even necessarily unique needs, but the needs we have are at much higher rates,” said SAGE's director of advocacy and training, Karen Taylor. “They aren't so foreign that they can't be applied across the board in aging services.”

For decades, the needs of LGBT elders have been overlooked by the mainstream aging community ( and often times, the larger LGBT community ) . In recent years, the mainstream community started paying attention to the needs of the gay and lesbian community. While AARP has been quietly reaching out to the LGBT community for a number of years now, their sponsorship of the upcoming event sends a powerful public message.

One of the reasons for this shift, according to Taylor, is that people can't help but pay attention to the astronomical growth of the senior population. Because of baby boomers, in the next 20 years, seniors will make up 20 percent of the total population. They currently make up 12 percent of the population. 

“And one thing we know about baby boomers are that they are not a silent generation,” Taylor added. “This is a generation that has worked hard to make a difference and has become very interested in civil rights and continuing to pursue those rights. They aren't planning to age quietly.” 

Within that population are leaders of the LGBT community as we know it today, or as Taylor put it, the first generation of the Post-Stonewall generation. These are people that helped create our local organizations and centers. As they age, they remind the LGBT community that we can't leave our seniors behind. 

Taylor added that as the mainstream aging community faces unique challenges, they have become more interested in the LGBT aging community because “We've been very good at creating unique ways to address those challenges.” Mainstream agencies can borrow from the lessons learned by the gay and lesbian community in order to create more innovative, inclusive programming. 
Taylor applauds the innovative work that AARP has been doing for populations “on the edge” and populations that don't follow the norm. “We have to become creative and flexible, and the reality is it's the creativity and flexibility that's really going to have the most effect on people,” she said. 
A number of Chicagoans will be presenting at and attending this year's conference. According to Taylor, Chicago is a model city when it comes to the work being done to help protect LGBT seniors. In Chicago, there is a real collaborative effort between traditional agencies and the LGBT community to ensure there are ongoing dialogue and program services. New York is also “ahead of the curve,” as well, Taylor said. The voices of gay and lesbian elders are regularly included in the state's ongoing planning. 

Terri Worman of AARP Illinois and the Chicago Task Force on LGBT Aging has been a key leader over the years in building collaborative relationships between mainstream and traditional aging service agencies and the LGBT community. 

Worman feels that in addition to nationwide shifting attitudes about LGBT issues, the Chicago Task Force on LGBT Aging has really helped Illinois make a large amount of progress. Many involved have been able to bring ideas back to their own agencies in order to create change. The task force has also helped those involved build connections and relationships with other local agencies, enabling them to create innovative programming. 

“I think a lot of people are starting to look at these issues, not just within their own agency's perspective, but also knowing that we need to create a community where we can all age with dignity,” Worman said. 

But it hasn't always been easy. Not all current seniors feel safe utilizing programs out there for LGBT elders. Funding is always a hurdle. Also, while being ignored by the mainstream for years, LGBT seniors have also had to battle ageist thinking within their own community. 

“The real challenge that our community has not looked at is the ageist thinking, like ‘I'm not going to end up like that,'” Taylor said. “Well, we don't know that. I'd like to think I won't end up like that, too, but truth is, I don't have kids, either.” 

Having programs like SAGE—which build bridges within the LGBT community to help eradicate the isolation many gay and lesbian seniors feel—is important. 

“To really be advocates to raise that visibility is crucial,” Taylor said. 
Worman feels that the LGBT community is starting to be a little more realistic about aging. However, many Americans, both gay and straight, aren't keen on thinking about growing older. 

“When you watch TV and see ads, you see we very much have a youth culture,” Worman said. 

Many people, Worman added, still react negatively when they turn 50 and start receiving AARP magazine in the mail. 

But when Worman sees the programming done by Center on Halsted, Howard Brown, Affinity, Amigas Latinas and others in terms of LGBT seniors, it's a sign that we are taking steps in the right direction. 

“It shows we are willing to at least start having these conversations,” Worman said.

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