Equality for LGBT Seniors
LGBT seniors deserve equal access to the healthcare benefits, protections, services and institutions available to any other senior - and they should be able to access these resources without discrimination, without shame or fear, and without having to go "back into the closet" to get the sort of care they deserve.
Working with the LGBT Aging Project, MassEquality supports these 2009 initiatives:
- Increase state funding for the LGBT Aging Project, which educates mainstream health and long-term care providers about the special challenges LGBT seniors face.
Today's LGBT elders are a generation that came of age before the gay civil rights movement. They grew up facing open discrimination - and to survive many learned to remain invisible and secretive.
As a result, many LGBT seniors are wary of revealing their sexual orientation or gender identity to helping professionals and would rather go without, even when sick, rather than turning to elder service providers for help.
Additionally, many elder service providers are not adequately prepared to deal with the needs of LGBT seniors. Fearing discrimination from other patients, staff and healthcare professionals, many LGBT elders - even those who are part of a married, same-sex couple - end up going "back into the closet" when they enter long-term care facilities.
The LGBT Aging Project is the only organization tackling this problem head on, working with elder service providers in Massachusetts to improve the accessibility and quality of care available to the LGBT senior population - but they need increased state funding to continue this important work.
