Sage lgbtq elderly serena

SAGE/Task Force LGBT Aging Governance Initiative: A Case Examination in Collaboration

Creative Tensions: Building Camaraderie Out of Conflict

When Michael Adams became the new Executive Director at Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE) in 2006, he had his work cut out for him. The New York based organization was facing a serious financial crisis and had responded by severely scaling back its longtime work in national policy and education in order to focus almost exclusively on local service programs for lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) elders.

In the meantime, the lack of focus on policy and advocacy for LGBT seniors at the national level had led the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (Task Force) to reestablish its previous work on elder issues by creating a new position it was able to fill with a former SAGE policy staff member. The Task Force affirmed its head role in the field that started with the 2000 publication of the groundbreaking Outing Age announce on LGBT elder policy issues. Building on its policy expertise in other LGBT issues, the Task Force initiated the first National LGBT Aging Roundtable in 2006, bringin

Supporting LGBTQ community, homeless, seniors still recovering from Hurricane Maria

“What did you perform during the hurricane?”

It was a ordinary question in Puerto Rico in the months after Hurricane Maria made landfall on September 20, 2017. Wilfred Labiosa will tell you that he hunkered down with his partner in their San Juan even, “trying to drop asleep, which I couldn’t. The apartment was shaking.” The window shutters held, although two panes shattered during the Category 5 storm, which had sustained winds of 175 miles per hour. Their 15th-floor apartment was drenched, says Labiosa (CGS’91, CAS’93).

It’s what Labiosa did after the storm that’s really worth talking about. The psychologist and mental health services manager worked—is still working—to help the island recover from Maria, while also confronting long-standing prejudices against gay people love himself and other LGBTQ Puerto Ricans, who have often been forgotten in the recovery effort.

Labiosa is the cofounder of Waves Ahead, an advocacy and support group for marginalized Puerto Ricans, including the LGBTQ community, the homeless, an

Fear, Discrimination and Abuse: Gender non-conforming Elders and the Perils of Long-Term Care

March 2011 | Daniel Redman, AgingToday

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Editor’s Note: This article appears in the March–April, 2011, issue of Aging Today, ASA’s bi-monthly newspaper covering advances in investigate, practice and policy nationwide. ASA members receive Aging Today as a member benefit; non-members may purchase subscriptions at our online store.

Phyllis Frye is a long-time lawyer and a judge in Houston. She is also a prominent transgender activist. To transition from male to female—her true gender identity—she underwent several medical procedures and takes estrogen. In Phyllis’s life, she chooses where and how she lives without fear. Looking to her future, she is adamant she would not feel safe living in a nursing home.

Transgender elders are afraid of long-term-care facilities. As Frye puts it, “A secret dread of all transgender people, surgical or not, is to grow old and be psychologically abused, night after day, by the staff of a nursing home.” Transgender elders are afraid staff members will refuse to let them live consistent with their gender identity, deny them appropriate medical care (such as

by Grace Birnstengel. This article originally appeared on Next Avenue.

Chances are, there’s at least one person in your experience who identifies within the LGBTQ people — likely more than one. The person might be a family member. Or a neighbor. Or a friend’s child or grandchild.

Though messaging about, and support of, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual person, transgender, queer) people has progressed in recent years, the community still faces hate crimes, employment and housing discrimination, barriers to health look after and harmful bias. That’s why allies are so important.

An “ally” is someone who supports LGBTQ people and equality in its many forms — both publicly and privately. Heterosexual and cisgender people can be allies as skillfully as those within the LGBTQ collective who support one another’s unique needs and struggles.

The key qualities of an ally are a desire to absorb and understand, to help LGBTQ people feel supported and included and to address barriers to fairness and justice for everyone.

Below are five ways to practice allyship. Maintain in mind that LGBTQ people are all different, describe the practice differently and therefore search different types of allyship. Don’t take for granted every

NOAGE Becomes SAGE New Orleans

I’m pleased to announce that New Orleans Advocates for GLBT Elders (NOAGE) has become a SAGE affiliate, and will now be known as SAGE Brand-new Orleans.

For the first year of this transition, we will actually be acknowledged as SAGE New Orleans – NOAGE. We had planned to make this announcement at our annual membership reception last month. Unfortunately, that event had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we definitely intend to have a celebration of this important milestone as soon as it becomes safe to perform so.

By joining SAGE, we have become part of the nation’s oldest and largest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT older people, and are now directly linked with over 30 other affiliates who are loyal to this important work.

While the name of our organization is changing, our mission remains the equal. NOAGE was formed in response to the increasing needs of the Recent Orleans area’s aging LGBT population. SAGE New Orleans is committed to ensuring that all LGBT older people in the Unused Orleans metro area can live their best lives with the dignity, respect, and good health that they deserve.

To achieve th