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| Image Source: frontiersla.com |
An estimated 300 people crowded into David Cooley’s lovely backyard in Hancock Park for the annual Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing Garden Party on Sunday, this year hosted by their new partners, the L.A. LGBT Center. GLEH’s merger with the Center last April was enthusiastically applauded by seniors and GLEH leaders at the event.
“I think it’s marvelous,” said Alice Herman, pictured above with her friend, Center CEO Lorri Jean. “This is an opportunity to make everything better.”
Jean met Alice after her legally married partner died and, without spousal benefits and the duel-income, Alice was forced to live in a car. Jean took Alice’s story nationwide in 2010 as part of the Center’s Rock for Equality Campaign as an example of what happens to LGBT elders without federal protections and benefits such as Social Security when a partner or spouse dies. At the time, before the Supreme Court struck Sec. 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, the Center noted that same sex individuals had been deprived of more than $2 billion in Social Security benefits. (See Alice’s story below). Last week, out Rep. Mark Takano introduced a bill to “fix” loops in Social Security and Medicare.
GLEH was honored for its work, accepted by GLEH Board Members Ara Babaian, Carolyn Dye, Mike Mueller and Ruth Tittle.
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“This is an opportunity to grow both organizations together. It’s a real gift to bump up the services to seniors a notch,” said Tittle, pictured above on the right with Dye, an attorney who provided pro-bono services to GLEH, and renown housing expert Mercedes Marquez, event co-chair with Hany Haddad. Marquez served both the Obama, Villaraigosa, and Garcetti administrations and joined the Center board at the end of last year.
The Center did not provide estimates on how much money was raised at the event, which featured West Coast bluegrass music from a cool group called the Moonsville Collective as well as a song from Debby Holiday, but the $250 VIP tickets sold out and hosts and sponsorship tickets zoomed into the thousands of dollars.
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Garden party goers munched on great food and downed drinks in the oddly muggy weather as they listened to Jean explain why supporting LGBT seniors must be a top priority for the LGBT community. Jean was introduced by producer/actor Peter Paige. Here’s an excerpt from Jean’s remarks:
The Center has been helping LGBT seniors since our founders first began providing services back in 1969. But we didn’t start a formal seniors program until 1998. Over the years we, like GLEH, have learned things about the LGBT senior population that few understand. Even our own community often does not understand the challenges faced by our seniors. I have actually had very generous and caring members of our community ask me why we need to be helping seniors. The sentiment runs along the lies of: They’re adults, can’t they take care of themselves? This lack of knowledge must be corrected.
Unfortunately, there is very little research on LGBT people, let alone LGBT seniors. But we do know some things. First, how many are there? I looked up some census numbers this morning. Nationwide in 2013, there were an estimated 44 million people aged 65 and older. If LGBT seniors are 5% of the population, that’s 2.2M; 10% - 4.4M. And that number is expected to double by 2030. In Los Angeles, we have 1.2M people aged 65 and older. If we’re 10% of the population, that’s 120,000 LGBT seniors; 5% that’s 60,000. So, the numbers are not small. And that doesn’t count the folks from 50 – 64. Like all seniors, LGBT seniors become more vulnerable as the get older. And this is true regardless of their financial resources. They become vulnerable to scams, to being taken advantage of by caretakers and other unscrupulous people. The vast majority of straight seniors have their kids or other family members to help them and step in when they need it. OUR seniors are four times less likely than their straight counterparts to have children or grandchildren to help them. Our seniors are twice as likely to live alone.
We also know that LGBT seniors are poorer than anyone ever imagined. This is especially true for lesbians. Nationally, lesbian couples age 65 and older have the highest rate of poverty of all couples 65 and older. 9% live at or below the poverty level as compared to 4.6% for gay male couples and 4.1% for straight couples. At Triangle Square, 75% of our residents are at or below the poverty level. The Center has more than 3,300 senior clients. 21% live on less than $1,000 a month. 44% live on less than $2,000 a month. I don’t know how anybody does that in a place as expensive as L.A.. Alarmingly, 22% of our senior clients are food insecure—in other words, on a weekly or monthly basis they don’t know if they’re going to get enough to eat. I’ve mentioned some very specific facts and figures.
But that’s not all we know. We know that our LGBT seniors are the first generation of LGBT people to come out in significant numbers. Out or closeted, they have been mistreated for decades. Many stood on the front lines from the earliest days of our movement for freedom, justice and equality. As a result, many of them not only lost their jobs and careers, they lost their families. They lost custody of children. They were rejected by their parents and siblings. Yet, they persevered. But in their golden years, they far too often become invisible and isolated. The Center is determined to change that.
Many LGBT seniors worked and continue to work hard to make our society a better place for LGBT people, and today that’s a legacy that all of us enjoy. Our future is bright in significant part due to their sacrifices. And I believe it’s our responsibility to not to forget that, or them. We must ensure that LGBT seniors are well cared for. We must do whatever we can so that our seniors are not isolated and invisible, not to themselves or to anyone else. We must strive to protect the people who paved the way for us. Remember, before we get to the younger generations of LGBT people in their 30’s and 40’s, where there has been a gayby boom, we have more than 5 even 6 decades of seniors who are growing old alone. If the Center—the world’s largest LGBT organization of any kind—can’t figure out how to take care of our own elders, many of whom are pioneers…nobody can.
For more inspiring stories about caring for LGBT seniors, subscribe to this Rainbow Vision Santa Fe blog.
