Posted on 10/25/2004 3:52:36 PM PDT by Kokojmudd
By Doug Kreutz ARIZONA DAILY STAR Grandpa is gay.
Aunt Lizzie is a lesbian.
That’s sometimes the case. But unlike many younger members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, some older folks have been reluctant - even terrified - to reveal their sexual orientation.
That means they often miss out on critical services for seniors, said a member of a volunteer group working to correct the problem.
Members of the group, called Rainbow Train, will take part in a free public forum on the issue Saturday.
"People 45 and older grew up in a time when they had to be much more closeted and hide who they were," said Rainbow Train volunteer Fran Coleman. "Those 80 and older grew up in a particularly hostile time. They could be disconnected from their family or job or even sent to a mental institution" because of their sexual orientation.
Coleman said Rainbow Train volunteers teach health and social-service providers how to be open and welcoming to elder members of the LGBT community.
An outreach effort is critical, she said, because "it’s estimated that 10 percent of the elder population is LGBT and not accessing services. That translates into 3 million to 4 million people nationwide, so it’s a huge population.
"The point is to create welcoming environments in our health care and social services."
The forum on Saturday is sponsored by Wingspan, the LGBT community center, and the Pima Council on Aging. It’s open to anyone interested in the issue - not just those who work as health or social service providers.
Coleman, director of a home health company called Elder In-Home Services, said the forum will include presentations by a gerontologist and an attorney with expertise in legal issues related to aging.
She said she and other Rainbow Train volunteers will perform a skit illustrating the differences between "a discriminatory provider and a diversity-minded provider."
Where's the barf alert?
I wonder what they're so busy doing to miss their special entitlements...maybe taking poles?(sp) ;^O
BARF ALERT.....better late than never.
I remember an article VERY SIMILAR to this about year 2000.....must be time to whip up the lesbo/homo vote.
Lovely. Yet more proof that it never was about privacy.
You got "services", "gays", and "lesbians" in the title, and you STILL need a barf alert?
What?? Are they not accessing services because they're LGBT and ashamed of it? Or because they don't know the services exist?
And if it's the latter...what services exist for LGBT seniors that are unique to the senior community? Lesbian night at the bingo hall? Gay Grandpas only fishing derbies? Huh?
Sounds like somebody trying to create a need for their own employment.
But I'm impressed that they're still bandying about the 10% number. I thought that had been discredited long ago.
It's all about "services" - gimme, gimme, gimme.
The average life expectancy of gay males is forty five years of age. Where do they fit into the geriatric category?
"Aunt Lizzie is a lesbian."
Well jolly good for Lizzie, I'm sure her parents were very proud.
" Aunt Lizzie is a lesbian "
Aunt Lizzie is a lezzie ???
I'm afraid the 45-year life-expectancy number for gay men is a bit of a canard. This number originated with the research of Paul Cameron. He examined obituaries in gay newspapers. But these things are read by a young, urban crowd, which skews the numbers. The true life-expectancy figures for gay men are that they lose, on average, between 8 and 20 years of life. (This according to a study run in Ontario by epidemiologists. Cameron is a psychologist who isn't well-trained in this kind of research.) These figures are very grim (and compare with mortality of heavy smokers, by the way). But not quite so bad as the Cameron number.
By the way, the uncertainty in the Ontario study (of 8 to 20 years) is due to the uncertainty in the fraction of the male population that is gay. 20 years if it's only 3%, 8 years if it's 6%, which the researchers took as the upper and lower bounds of the gay population.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.