GLBT elders to voice needs

GLBT elders to voice needs
By Amy Wooten
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
March 18, 2009
http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/3275


Chicago’s GLBT seniors, a community often overlooked, will soon have an important opportunity to gain much-needed visibility.

On March 25, the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, will host a speak out forum from 12-2 p.m. for GLBT elders in order to ensure that the city includes their unique needs in the Chicago Department of Senior Services’ proposed fiscal year 2009-2010 Area Plan on Aging. The plan describes how the city will use funds to deliver services to seniors, and GLBT aging advocates say this input is critical.

The forum, organized by the Chicago Task Force on LGBT Aging and moderated by the Center’s Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) Advisory Council, will also be attended by officials from Howard Brown Health Center, who will present data from its recent LGBT Elder Health Needs Assessment.

Howard Brown Health Center’s Chief Officer of Elder and LBTI Women’s Services Amber Hollibaugh said that the needs assessment data provides “a real sense of what the GLBT senior population needs.”

Center on Halsted SAGE Director Serena Worthington said the event is meant “to really make some noise about LGBT aging” and aims to give the city a list of recommendations, backed up by testimony, hard data and success stories from GLBT senior programming.

“I know it’s a horrible budgeting year, but funds are there that we can use,” Worthington added. “We’d like to be at the table.”

“It’s critical because of the ways we’ve been ignored and been made invisible,” Hollibaugh added. “We need to be engaged with the city about these issues.”

Both Hollibaugh and Worthington said that the larger GLBT community has been paying more attention to its senior population over the years—“I think there is a little bit of a groundswell,” Worthington said, noting that the Center has more volunteers than seniors for its senior visiting program—but there is still a long way to go.

Many GLBT seniors still must contend with numerous issues. They are more likely to be living alone, for example, and many fear losing their home, accessing needed care because of homophobia and discrimination and entering a nursing home that is not GLBT-friendly.

Although the Center and Howard Brown both have large senior programs, Hollibaugh said that these services are “tiny” compared to the estimated 40,000 GLBT elders in Chicago. “We will never service all those 40,000 people—we need help,” she added, noting that many GLBT seniors need to access city and state services “just to get by.”

The input gathered during the speak out will be used as testimony at the Chicago Area Agency on Aging’s public hearings. The event’s organizers hope to get a large group of GLBT seniors with a wide variety of perspectives, from those just entering retirement to those considering a nursing home.

“I think there’s a special power to people telling their own story,” Worthington said.

The Center will videotape the forum to help educate the larger community, but accommodations will be made for seniors wishing to provide input off camera. Lunch will be provided, as well.

While the March 25 event is meant for GLBT seniors, Worthington said a GLBT senior-focused event for aging advocates, politicians and service providers will be held around May.

RSVP to Worthington at sworthington@centeronhalsted.org or (773) 472-6469 ext. 160.