Feds Beef Up LGBT Senior Protections

Via White House press release:

As part of the White House Conference on Aging today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued guidance to better serve and help avoid discrimination to LGBT Americans seeking HUD-assisted or HUD-insured housing. The guidance will help clarify the Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity Rule (Equal Access Rule), which was originally published in 2012. The Equal Access Rule ensures that housing across HUD programs is open to all eligible individuals regardless of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status, including Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly. “Every American deserves to live with dignity, regardless of who they love or who they are,” said HUD Secretary Julián Castro. “HUD is committed to fighting unjust discrimination and to expanding housing opportunity for all.”

And if you screw with LGBT seniors: "HUD may pursue any available remedy, including sanctions, that it determines appropriate to remedy the violation." BOOM.

NYC To Get First LGBT Senior Center

Fantastic news from SAGE!

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) announced today that Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) was awarded an Innovative Senior Center (ISC) contract to open the nation's first full-time center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults. SAGE the country's oldest and largest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT older adults. The SAGE Center, slated to open in January 2012, will include program sites in all five New York City boroughs—bringing a comprehensive array of services and support to LGBT elders throughout the city In addition to the robust array of programs SAGE currently provides at the LGBT Community Center and SAGE Harlem, the new Center will offer hot meals, programs covering issues from health and wellness to workplace skills, comprehensive social services, a wide range of social activities, and much more.

Sometimes this town blows me away.

On Gay Seniors Clay & Harold

JMG reader and prolific YouTube activist Sean Chapin covers the case of Clay and Harold, the Sonoma County, California seniors whose decades-long relationship was ignored by hospital administrators. The horrible result of that injustice was covered on this blog on Friday and over the weekend the story got much wider notice across the progressive blogosphere.

Lesbian Couple Celebrates 70th Year

Caroline Leto and Venera Magazzu of Dania Beach, FL, met at a party in 1939. They're still together.

Yes, couples in their 90s still argue occasionally. This is how it went recently for Caroline Leto and Venera Magazzu as they sipped lemonade on their couch in Dania Beach: "We're not going to have a party," said Magazzu, 97, insisting they are too old for such things. "Oh, yes we are," responded Leto, 96, who noted the two can still polka. "This is a big one." Indeed. A party celebrating 70 years together is a big deal for any pair. But a celebration of this couple's love takes on special meaning, considering they had to keep silent about it for decades. "You just couldn't tell everyone we were lovers," said Leto. "You tell people we're friends, and some thought we were sisters." Leto and Magazzu downplay their pioneering role in the gay and lesbian community. But many of their friends and relatives talk it up anyway, marveling at how their love was able to transcend a lifetime's worth of obstacles. To mark their Aug. 17 milestone, members of Etz Chaim, a gay and lesbian congregation in Wilton Manors, are planning a party. They hope Leto and Magazzu will attend and show everyone how to do the polka.

The pair became domestic partners in NYC in 1996. In 2001 they cowrote a self-published book titled An Unadulterated Story: Young and Gay at 90.

Protection For CA Gay Seniors

Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that will protect LGBT seniors in nursing homes.

The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires licensed health care professionals who have constant interaction with seniors to attend a training program on preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

"Some members of the (LGBT) community living in nursing homes have been denied their most basic rights, including the simple choice to spend time with a loved one, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity," said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. "We appreciate the support of Gov. Schwarzenegger and the legislature for approving this measure, which will proactively create a culture of respect and understanding for all seniors living in care facilities."

EQCA said basic rights such as the choice to live in the same nursing home with a partner and the right to hospital visitation are routinely denied to older same-sex couples.

(Via - PrideSource)

Gay Seniors Face Loneliness, Unique Health Challenges

From Newsweek:

Gerontologists haven't traditionally viewed sexual orientation as relevant to their work—and, according to a study by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, most national health surveys of elderly citizens fail to assess sexual orientation. But gay seniors confront unique challenges: they're twice as likely as straights to live alone, and 10 times less likely to have a caretaker should they fall ill. Older gay men are at high risk for HIV, and many suffer the psychological effects of losing friends to the AIDS crisis.

Many face discrimination in medical and social services, and on top of it all, they're less likely to have health insurance: one survey, by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law, at UCLA, estimates that gay seniors are half as likely to have coverage as their straight counterparts.

"In many ways, this population is a mirror opposite of what the mainstream aging community looks like," says Karen Taylor, director of advocacy and training for the New York-based Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders, or SAGE, the nation's oldest senior network. "The average senior in the United States lives with one other person; two-thirds of LGBT seniors live alone. If you don't have those informal support networks built into your life, then everything else becomes a bigger issue. Who forces you to go to the doctor? What happens if you fall?"

This is the 30th year of SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay Elders) and this month the organization launches a major awareness campaign in New York City with messages hitting subways, phone booths, and buses. The campaign will advise on the many SAGE services available to LGBT seniors and will solicit financial support. The ads are really great (see right), go to the above link for more examples.

October 12-14 SAGE will hold its 4th annual National Conference On LGBT Aging at the New York Marriott. The conference will culminate with the 30th Annual Gala and SAGE Awards at the Metropolitan Pavilion in the West Village. Honorees include Martina Navratilova, tickets available here.

RELATED: Earlier this month, Gotham businessman Eyal Feldman, 30, the owner of Boy Butter lube, did a six mile solo marathon swim across the St. Lawrence River to Canada and back, raising $1000 for SAGE. Check out the video of his achievement, Feldman sets a great example.