LGBTQ Communities

Education & Action During COVID-19: Caring for LGBT Older People

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This article originally appeared on Medium.

Older adults in the United States are at increased risk for contracting COVID-19. They are particularly vulnerable without access during the pandemic to the health care resources and social structures that contribute to overall wellness. This is especially true for the 1.1 million LGBTQ people who are ages 65 and older living across the country.

While LGBT older people are at a greater risk for the virus based on age,.... Read More

             

With HIV/AIDS, What Does Successful Aging Look Like?

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

At 62, Hugo Sapién is seriously considering going back to school to earn a master’s degree in theology. In his younger days, this is something he would have never considered — not for lack of interest, but because he didn’t think he’d live long enough to even finish his undergraduate degree.

“I thought there’s no way I’m going to make it,” Sapién, of San Antonio, says. “I wouldn’t make any long-term plans.”

This was the mid-80s, when Sapién suspects he acquired HIV (he wasn’t diagnosed until 1995). Treatments for the virus were sprouting up with mixed effectiveness. Death was a real — if.... Read More

             

Riots Before Parades: LGBT Pride Month

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There are many ways to write the story of the LGBT civil rights movement. We can start in the 1920s, when the Society of Human Rights was founded, or in 1955 when the Mattachine Society, a secretive group was founded, or with the 1965 gay march in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The LGBT community has been fighting for their civil rights for decades; however, it wasn’t until the 1968 Stonewall Riots that issues facing the LGBT community attracted mass media attention in the US.

The Stonewall Riots ignited unity between many different LGBT groups to take back.... Read More

             

Join us! Celebrate Pride In Place

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This article originally appeared on the SAGE blog.

SAGE is proud to introduce #PrideInPlace, our virtual Pride campaign for 2020. Pride in Place is a way to celebrate Pride and the 50th anniversary of our country’s first Pride March wherever you are, whether it’s a physical location, your place in life, your place in the community, or your place in the history of the movement. This is an affirmation – no matter where you are or what is going on in the world, pride is a state of mind, and will continue to flourish against all odds.

Resources:

View our Pride in Place social media.... Read More
             

Open Up Puerto Rico – Exprésate Puertorriqueños

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This article originally appeared on the SAGE website. To learn more about Open Up Puerto Rico, click here.

SAGE is proud to partner with the New York City Department for the Aging, Thrive NYC and our SAGE Puerto Rico affiliate at Waves Ahead in a public health campaign for Puerto Rican LGBT elders in New York City and Puerto Rico. The campaign seeks to provide help via SAGE’s National LGBT Elder Hotline in the U.S. and a telephone helpline in Puerto Rico run by SAGE Puerto Rico at Waves Ahead.

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AIDS Services Know How to Love in a Plague

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by John-Manuel Andriote. This article originally appeared on Next Avenue.

(Editor’s note: This story is part of Still Here, Still Positive: A series on the first generation of Americans aging with HIV/AIDS, with support from The John A. Hartford Foundation.)

Just as we gay and bisexual men measured our personal histories in relation to AIDS — starting in 1981 — everyone now speaks of the world, and our lives, “before” and “after” COVID-19.

Organizations created in the 1980s to serve very ill, homebound people with HIV/AIDS are demonstrating in this “after” that there is a greater-than-ever need for what they know about feeding and caring for people with.... Read More

             

Coronavirus Pandemic Exposes Gap in Mental Health Services for Seniors

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By Dr. Marcy Adelman. This article originally appeared in the San Francisco Bay Times.

The COVID-19 crisis, and with it the need to shelter in place, have exposed gaps in San Francisco’s services for seniors and LGBTQ seniors in particular.

The city has long established partnerships with community nonprofits with whom they have a successful track record for delivering in-person health and wellness services and programs and peer support groups that reduce social isolation and increase opportunities for program participants to engage, connect, and volunteer in their communities. For people who are not comfortable with in-person experiences, the Institute on Aging provides a phone service for older adults who need someone to listen to their concerns..... Read More

             

Diverse Elders Coalition Launches New COVID-19 Resource Hub

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The COVID-19 pandemic has directly impacted older adults and caregivers in the United States. COVID-19 cases have surpassed 1 million, and there is at least one COVID-19 case in all 50 states. Individuals with weaker immune systems and underlying health conditions are most vulnerable to COVID-19, placing many older adults and people with disabilities at risk.

In our communities, COVID-19 is having an enormous impact on elders and caregivers, the challenges of which are exacerbated by existing health disparities and other socioeconomic factors, such as housing, poverty, lack of access to healthcare, and discrimination. It is not difficult.... Read More

             

HIV/AIDS’ Effect on Aging: Still Unclear

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by John-Manuel Andriote. This article originally appeared on Next Avenue.

Craig Washington has never spent a night in the hospital because of HIV. Not even the time in the early ’90s when he got cryptosporidiosis, one of the opportunistic infections that can wreak havoc on someone with a weakened immune system.

The Atlanta-based social worker and therapist’s good health is especially impressive for a 60-year-old man diagnosed with HIV back in 1985 — the year the HIV antibody test first became available.

“For the most part,” said Washington, “I have been very blessed, very fortunate, that my health is pretty good and a lot of the day-to-day energy level I’ve been able to sustain.” He attributes his.... Read More

             

SAGE Launches SAGEConnect to Combat Social Isolation for LGBT Elders

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SAGE, the world’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT elders, has recently launched SAGEConnect, a program that matches LGBT elders with volunteer community members and allies in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many of our LGBT pioneers, the heightened need for social isolation has left them homebound with severely limited support networks. The one-to-one contact offered through SAGEConnect will help combat feelings of loneliness and disconnection during this unprecedented time of COVID-19, and ensure that elders are linked to resources if they are in need of help. ­

Because of the limited resources available to LGBT elders during this time, SAGE is utilizing its connection.... Read More

             
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