Click here for the home page.

LGBT Aging Project Blog

LGBT Aging Project Joins Fenway Health!

The LGBT Aging Project, New England’s premier organization for cultural competency training, programs and advocacy for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) older adults, will become an affiliate of Fenway Health effective July 1, 2013.  The LGBT Aging Project will become part of Fenway’s research, education and policy division, The Fenway Institute.  This new affiliation will reinforce the commitment of both the LGBT Aging Project and Fenway Health to the growing LGBT older adult community.

 “The LGBT Aging Project will maintain its mission, identity and staff with the Fenway Institute as our new home, “said Lisa Krinsky, Director of the LGBT Aging Project. “We are excited to join the Fenway family, and to grow our programs to positively impact the lives of larger numbers of LGBT older adults and caregivers. We are equally excited to help Fenway expand their work in LGBT aging.”

This affiliation will tightly integrate community-based services, training and advocacy for LGBT older adults with research relevant to the aging LGBT population and access to health care.  The resulting synergy will increase visibility for LGBT older adults and their unique social service and health care needs.  As part of The Fenway Institute, the LGBT Aging Project will continue to build upon its successes in providing training, capacity-building, and community-based services and collaborate with Fenway faculty and staff to conduct critical research on the LGBT older adult community. This will help sharpen training, outreach and educational efforts at both organizations.

“Fenway is extremely excited by this partnership. As more members of our community reach their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond, care and services for LGBT older adults are going to be increasingly important,” said Stephen L. Boswell, MD, Fenway Health President and CEO.  “We look forward to working with the staff of the LGBT Aging Project on growing their programs and tapping into their expertise to help Fenway better serve our elders.”

Founded in 2001 by a group of advocates from both the aging service network and the LGBT community, the LGBT Aging Project is dedicated to ensuring that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older adults have equal access to the life-prolonging benefits, protections, services and institutions that their heterosexual neighbors take for granted. Through LGBT cultural competency training for mainstream elder service providers, community building for LGBT older adults themselves, and civic leadership, the LGBT Aging Project ensures that LGBT older adults can age with the dignity and respect they deserve.

For more than forty years, Fenway Health has been working to make life healthier for the people in our neighborhood, the LGBT community, people living with HIV/AIDS and the broader population.  The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health is an interdisciplinary center for research, training, education and policy development focusing on national and international health issues. Fenway’s Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center cares for youth and young adults ages 12 to 29 who may not feel comfortable going anywhere else, including those who are LGBT or just figuring things out; homeless or living on the streets; struggling with substance use or abuse; sex workers; or living with HIV/AIDS.

Posted: May 16, 2013 at 1:07 pm

10th Annual Senior Pride Tea Dance: Sunday June 2nd!

Posted: May 15, 2013 at 4:21 pm

MassEquality and the LGBT Aging Project Calls on Lawmakers To Create LGBT Elder Commission

BOSTON, April 10, 2013—Yesterday, MassEquality  and the LGBT Aging Project called on lawmakers to create an LGBT Elder Commission to study and recommend ways to meet the unique needs of LGBT elders. The Joint Committee on Public Health will hear testimony about the need for a Commission at 1pm today at the Statehouse.

“Last year, the Patrick Administration issued a directive to elder service agencies in Massachusetts requiring them to do targeted outreach to LGBT elders. We know that many of these elders are reluctant to come out to caregivers and they frequently go without help, even when sick, rather than turn to aging service providers for assistance,” said MassEquality Executive Director Kara Suffredini. “Now we would like lawmakers to take the next step and create this Commission that will serve to further identify ways we can meet the needs of this vulnerable population.”

““Despite having an excellent elder care system in Massachusetts, we frequently encounter providers who claim they don’t have any LGBT constituents,” said LGBT Aging Project Executive Director Lisa Krinsky. “There is a great need for this Commission so we can learn  more about this invisible population and their unique experiences and needs in order to ensure that LGBT elders feel safe and comfortable.”

Multiple surveys distributed by SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the LGBT Aging Project have shown that LGBT elders have a great need for services to help them to continue living independently as they age, but that they are also unlikely to request such services:

Approximately 3.8-7.6% of the total elder population is LGBT and this is expected to double by 2030 as the baby boomers, the first generation of post-Stonewall, openly LGBT older adults continues to age. (“Outing Age: Public Policy Issues Affecting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders,” National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2010.)

According to the recently released report, “Disparities and Resilience among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Older Adults” from the National LGBT Health and Aging Center,  more than 20% do not disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity to their physician.  Also, 68% of those surveyed reported experienced verbal harassment and 43% experienced physical violence.

Elder service agencies that had offered or funded LGBT training for their staff were three times more likely to have received a request to assist a transgender person and twice as likely to have received a request to help an LGB older adult in the previous year.(“Ready to Serve? The Aging Network and LGB and T Older Adults,” SAGE, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2010.)

Only 19% of LGBTs have tried to have any contact with their local senior center. (Robert Behney, “The Aging Network’s Response to Gay and Lesbian Issues,” Outward newsletter, the Lesbian and Gay Aging Issues Network of the American Society on Aging, Winter 1994.) 

###

MassEquality is the leading statewide grassroots advocacy organization working to ensure that everyone across Massachusetts can thrive from cradle to grave without discrimination and oppression based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. MassEquality does this by partnering across issues, identities and communities to build a broad, inclusive and politically powerful movement that changes hearts and minds and achieves policy and electoral victories.

Posted: April 10, 2013 at 4:22 pm

Behind The Scenes at the LGBT Aging Project

Behind The Scenes AT The LGBT Aging Project
The new year began with business as usual at The LGBT Aging Project. On January 3rd one of our social work interns, Mitra Tumino, co-facilitated the final meeting for the LGBT Bereavement Group in Cambridge. Then on Monday evening Jan 7th she also facilitated our LGBT Caregiver group. Mitra was out again on Tuesday night with another one of our social work interns, Laura Sheers, to help Ethos with their newest LGBT supper club, Out4Supper in Jamaica Plain. This same week Lisa presented on LGBT Aging and Caregiving for the Arlington Providers Group. The following day Lisa and Dale Mitchell, LGBT Aging Project’s Board Chair, met with Rep Sarah Peake to discuss LGBT aging and caregiving issues. On the 11th both Lisa and Bob met with the members of M’LANA (Massachusetts LGBT Aging Needs Assessment coalition) to work on upcoming research projects, target policy work and review proposals for future publications. That weekend on Sat Jan 12th Mitra helped to facilitate Ethos ‘s Out 2 Brunch.

The following week Lisa, Bob and our 3rd social work intern, Jen Buck, made the trip to North Shore Elder Services to meet with the planning committee for the upcoming conference “LGBT Elders in and Ever Changing World.” On the following day, as most people were heading home after a long day at work Lisa and Mitra were en route to Malden to welcome participants to Mystic Tea, the new LGBT meal and social program for LGBT sponsored by Mystic Valley Elder Service. At the same time Bob was making the journey to Gloucester to speak at a focus group on LGBT Aging at SeniorCare. This was SeniorCare’s first community event in their work to becoming a welcoming agency for LGBT older adults. On the 16th Lisa and Jen led a discussion on LGBT Aging at Boston University’s School of Social Work. That weekend Bob gave a presentation to the Boston Prime Timers at Harriet Tubman House.

The next week Bob and Lisa made the long trip to Fairhaven to meet with representatives from Coastline Elder Services and the Fairhaven Senior Center who are interested in cultural competency training for their agencies and launching the first supper club for LGBT seniors in the New Bedford area. The next day Lisa led an Open Door Task Force training for the staff at Somerville Council on Aging. While that was going on Bob brought a group of LGBT older adults to speak to doctors, medical providers and medical students at Boston University’s Geriatric Conference Series. On the 24th Lisa represented the Aging Project at the LGBT Senior Pride Coalition’s first meeting of 2013 to plan this year’s Pride events for LGBT seniors.  In between all these travels, presentations and meetings we also manage to find the time for our ongoing work which includes grant writing, supervising our interns, managing our Healthy Aging, Caregiver and LGBT Bereavement Programs, budget work, planning meetings, outreach and technical support for Open Door agencies, fielding calls and emails from all across the country and attempting to get our newsletter out on time!

During the final week of the month Lisa did a Board training on LGBT Aging for a local elder service provider. Bob did a presentation on Compassionate Care for LGBT Older Adults for the medical students and faculty at Mass General’s Institute of Health. Lisa closed the week out by conducting a train-the- trainer session for a three hour LGBT aging module to be part of the standard curriculum for personal and home care aides.

On February 1st we will start all over again!

After reading this do you feel like you need to take a nap?

Let us know what you think – leave a comment!

Posted: January 31, 2013 at 11:51 am

Learning how to care for LGBT seniors

By Lara Salahi |  Boston Globe  December 10, 2012

As a teacher for 32 years, Joy Griffith sometimes felt she needed to hide her sexual orientation.

“I identify myself as a lesbian but I don’t go around saying that out loud,” said Griffith. “It depended on my situation and where I was.”

Now she lives in a Hingham retirement community that she described as “a wonderful place of acceptance.” Griffith, 78, said being open about being a lesbian is no longer as stigmatizing as it used to be. Still, she has a lingering fear: “You never know who’s going to move in and have a prejudice.”

Griffith is part of a growing population of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered (LGBT) seniors who face challenges different from their straight peers.

An estimated 4-8 percent of seniors today identify themselves as LGBT and the percentage is expected to double by 2030, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, as LGBT baby boomers, who are more likely to be open about their sexual orientation, age.

For many LGBT seniors, their biggest concern now is not trying to conform to an unwelcoming society, but rather, who will care for them as they get older. They are less likely to have ever been married or have children, leaving them without a close relative to take on the role of caregiver.

And many LGBT seniors still do not feel comfortable disclosing their sexual orientation. Lisa Krinsky, director of The Aging Project, a Boston-based nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of LGBT elders, estimates that as many as 80 percent of LGBT seniors in Massachusetts fear disclosing their sexuality to family members and health care providers, and are unlikely to seek any sort of dependent care because of the risk a caregiver will learn their secret.

“These seniors have an internalized fear of not being safe,” said Krinsky.

As a result, many organizations that serve the elderly worry that those who are LGBT may die early and alone.

In early November, Massachusetts adopted federal guidelines that include targeting LGBT elders for outreach, recognizing them as an underserved population.

The directive issued by Governor Deval Patrick encourages — but does not require — local agencies that work with older adults to “identify and assess the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender population.”

Although the exact number of LGBT seniors in Massachusetts is unclear, the need to welcome LGBT seniors into aging care programs is great, said Krinsky. She and her team train organizations that serve the aging and health care providers affected by the new directive in cultural issues and proper language to use when caring for LGBT seniors.

The nonprofit advocacy group MassEquality and The Aging Project are also pushing for a bill, H1099, that is pending in the Legislature and would make training for dealing with LGBT seniors mandatory for elder-care providers.

“We would have this opportunity to educate elder care providers, many of whom are really well meaning and want to connect with LGBT folks but don’t know how to,” Krinsky said.

“LGBT older adults are clearly facing all the same issues as their heterosexual peers,” added Krinsky. “But there’s an added layer of their sexuality.”

Only 22 percent of LGBT seniors in long-term care facilities are open about their sexual orientation, according to results from a national online survey by Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders and the Movement Advancement Project published in March 2010.

“A lot of LGBT seniors came of age during an era of homophobia and a time when they may not have been treated well by people in the health care system,” said Carly Burton, deputy director of MassEquality.

In the 1960s, Griffith feared disclosing her sexuality to her doctors and tried to avoid gynecologic exams.

“You were really careful not to let doctors know about that because the prejudice would have been quite harmful,” she said.

Griffith knows people who still fear professional care, but they are mostly in their 80s and 90s.

“They went through so much more than I did,” said Griffith. “I was right on the edge where progress was made, so it was easier for me. But for them, they had to hide hide hide all the way.”

The fear of being stigmatized is another reason the approach by elder service care providers should be different with LGBT seniors, Krinsky said.

“For some LGBT folks, there can be concern about who is going to come in their home and see their pictures and their personal environment,” said Krinsky. “[For] some folks the worry is that someone is going to be sent to their house and they won’t know how to react.”

“If they’re going to assisted living, the facilities want seniors to bring photos and other objects that make this place feel like their new home,” said Krinsky. “But what if those pictures are of them in drag? Can they still be comfortable in this facility?”

There’s also concern about their straight peers, many of whom may also have a negative reaction.

Griffith moved to Linden Ponds retirement community in Hingham in 2007.

She has no partner and no immediate family to be an emergency contact. Because there are others like her, standard questions by health care providers should be worded differently for LGBT seniors, according to the training provided by The Aging Project. Seniors should be asked about their support system rather than children, or about their partner rather than spouse.

Burton, of MassEquality, said she thinks the voluntary directive issued by the governor is a great first step, but that it may not be enough to motivate some elder-care providers to take advantage of the available training because it is voluntary.

Still, caregivers aren’t the only ones who need to change. Not only do providers face the challenge of developing trust with LGBT seniors, but many seniors who have hidden their sexual orientation from formal caregivers must learn to overcome their fear.

“Social programs within the elder agencies are a way to get them integrated with other similar folks and feel comfortable connecting with providers,” said Krinsky.

The world has changed since she came of age, Griffith reminded herself recently. Her confident tone seemed to convey the importance of seniors being open with their health care providers.

“Somewhere in my 50s and 60s I was trying to find my way,” she said. “I don’t know quite what it is that should frighten us now.”

>> view this article in the Boston Globe

Posted: December 10, 2012 at 8:06 pm

Holiday Meals and Special Events for LGBT Older Adults

Out to Brunch: Annual Holiday Brunch and Yankee Swap:
This popular event will be held on Saturday December 1st. For more information or to RSVP contact Jessica at outtobrunch@gmail.com.

Out4Supper Holiday Dinner:
Tuesday December 4th from 6pm to 8pm.
There will be a holiday concert by students from Berklee College of Music. To RSVP call (617) 522-6700 x306.

Over The Rainbow Supper Club:
Holiday Dinner at House of 7 Gables: Tuesday December 11 from 6pm to 8pm.
There will be a piano concert of holiday music and the annual sing-a-long!
Stay tuned for details about the Over The Rainbow’s Annual Holiday Party. We will send that out as soon as the information is available. For more information or to RSVP call (978) 624-2261.

Cafe Emmanuel Holiday Luncheon and Jazz Concert:
The Holiday Party this year will be Thursday December 13th from 11am to 1pm.
There will be a Holiday Jazz Vocal Concert by New England Concervatory.
Bring a book if you would like to participate in the annual book swap.
RSVP by Dec 5th to Blinscott@lgbtagingproject.org or call (617) 477-6610

Mystic Valley Elder Services Holiday Party and Launch of ‘Mystic Tea’
Tuesday December 18th from 4pm to 6pm at their location, 300 Commercial Street, Malden. For more information or to RSVP call 781-324-7705 x161 or email vpoole@mves.org.

We will post information here about the holiday meals for South Shore Brunch, WLEN’s Rainbow Lunch Club and Cadbury Commons as soon as we have it.

Posted: November 16, 2012 at 3:13 am

Breaking News: New Development in MA Outreach to LGBT Older Adults

             

MassEquality and LGBT Aging Project Applaud Patrick Administration for Outreach to LGBT Older Adults

Call on lawmakers to pass bill that would require elder service provider training in LGBT issues

 

BOSTON, November 13, 2012—Today, MassEquality and the LGBT Aging Project praised the Patrick Administration for recognizing that LGBT elders have unique needs separate from the greater population and for urging local elder service agencies to specifically reach out to LGBT elders.

 

On Nov. 8, the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA) published a directive to elder service agencies in Massachusetts informing them that the state was adopting federal guidelines around elder populations in greatest need of targeted outreach. The federal Administration for Community Living, which works to keep elders living as independently as possible, recently concluded that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders are in need of targeted outreach for services. As a result, EOEA is requesting that local agencies that work with older adults “identify and assess the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) population as a part of their plan development.”

 

“We know that many older LGBT adults came of age when explicit discrimination from families, employers, neighbors, landlords, faith communities, and government were routine experiences,” said MassEquality Deputy Director Carly Burton. “As a result, many are reluctant to come out to caregivers and they frequently go without help, even when sick, rather than turn to aging service providers for assistance.”

 

Multiple surveys distributed by SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the LGBT Aging Project have shown that LGBT elders have a great need for services to help them to continue living independently as they age, but that they are also unlikely to request such services:

 

 

“Despite having an excellent elder care system in Massachusetts, we frequently encounter providers who claim they don’t have any LGBT constituents,” said LGBT Aging Project Executive Director Lisa Krinsky. “There is a great need for training these providers about this invisible population and their unique experiences and needs in order to ensure that LGBT elders feel safe and comfortable.”

 

To help fill the gap with these needs, MassEquality and the LGBT Aging Project are advocating for passage of “The LGBT Awareness Training For Aging Services Providers Bill” that would require EOEA to develop a curriculum for delivery of accessible and appropriate services to LGBT older adults and caregivers. This curriculum would focus on the prevention and elimination of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. It would also focus on improving access to services for LGBT older adults and caregivers.

 

###

MassEquality is the leading statewide grassroots advocacy organization working to ensure that everyone across Massachusetts can thrive from cradle to grave without discrimination and oppression based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. We do this by partnering across issues, identities and communities to build a broad, inclusive and politically powerful movement that changes hearts and minds and achieves policy and electoral victories.

 

The LGBT Aging Project is dedicated to ensuring that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older adults and caregivers have equal access to the life prolonging benefits, services and institutions that their heterosexual peers take for granted. Through LGBT cultural competency training for mainstream elder service providers, community building for LGBT older adults themselves, and civic leadership, the LGBT Aging Project ensures that LGBT older adults can age with the dignity and respect they deserve.

 

 


[1] SAGE and Hunter College Brookdale Center, “Assistive Housing for Elderly Gays and Lesbians in New York City,” October 1999.

[2] Robert Behney, “The Aging Network’s Response to Gay and Lesbian Issues,” Outward newsletter, the Lesbian and Gay Aging Issues Network of the American Society on Aging, Winter 1994.

[3] “Ready to Serve? The Aging Network and LGB and T Older Adults,” SAGE, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2010.

[4] Robert Behney, “The Aging Network’s Response to Gay and Lesbian Issues,” Outward newsletter, the Lesbian and Gay Aging Issues Network of the American Society on Aging, Winter 1994.

[5] “Outing Age: Public Policy Issues Affecting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders,” National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2010.

Posted: November 16, 2012 at 2:22 am

Free Screening of Gen Silent This Sunday

Sunday, November 4, 2012
from 2pm – 4pm
 at the Regent Theatre
7 Medford Street, Arlington, MA

  Minuteman Senior Services is pleased to present Gen Silent , a documentary film about the challenges faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender older people who may be isolated and afraid to ask for help. In fact, the Administration on Aging (AoA), the federal agency responsible for funding and programs for our country’s older adults, released an historic announcement this summer that recognized LGBT older adults among those populations of “greatest social need” when planning for and providing services throughout the country.Sponsored by: Arlington Council on Aging, Arlington Human Rights

Commission and Minuteman Senior Services  Hosted by: Regent Theatre7 Medford Street, Arlington, MA

Posted: October 30, 2012 at 7:48 pm

Reminder:
LGBT Aging Project & Boston LGBT Film Festival will be co-sponsoring an encore screening of “Cloudburst” 

This will sell out, so get your tickets in advance – click here

Cloudburst by Thom Fitzgerald (Canada, 2010, 90 min.). The winner of five awards across the Canadian festival circuit, Cloudburst’s sweet and timeless love story now has the chance to charm audiences in the US. Dotty and Stella (Academy-Award winners Brenda Fricker and Olympia Dukakis) have lived together for the last 31 years on the coastline of Maine. Dotty’s granddaughter Molly wonders if Stella can truly care for Dotty anymore and arranges for Dotty to live in a nursing home. Unwilling to live without one another, Stella and Dotty hit the road to Nova Scotia to get married. But the road is long and rough, and Stella begins to wonder if she really can take care of Dotty. After 31 years, can they keep their family together? 

 

Posted: October 30, 2012 at 7:39 pm

Free Intergenerational Film Event with LGBT Aging Project and Student from Boston University

Join The LGBT Aging Project and Joining Hands at Boston University for a fun afternoon event. Meet students from Boston University and Seniors from Cafe Emmanuel and Out to Bruch for a free intergenerational film and discussion.

We will be screening Hipsters – a fun lively musical set in Cold War Russia 1955. This will be a pefect film to discuss issues of being different, taking risks, and being true to ourselves.

Join us!

This Sunday October 21st, 12:30pm. George Sherman Student Union, Boston University, 775 Comm Ave.

Pizza and desserts provided by Joining Hands

This event is free and open to all but it would be helpful to get a head count. Call (617) 477-6610.

 

Posted: October 17, 2012 at 3:04 pm