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Going to hear Rev. Troy Perry preach tonight
One of the things I’ve observed as I get older is how easily we forget those who’ve gone before us and the things they went through. Few gay men in their 20s and 30s have any real sense of what we went through in the 1980s with AIDS. I’m among the fortunate ones, alive and well, with a memory of the first reports of a strange gay cancer in New York. I was living in Los Angeles then, 1981, and I can clearly remember sitting on the floor watching television with a group of friends as these reports started coming in. It’s too long, grueling and sad a story, and I’ve told it enough in stories, plays and blog posts to be done with it, but it’s part of my life’s history and always will be.
We also tend to be unaware of the pioneers who don’t get all the press. Judging from what I’ve read in other gay media, we had Harvey Milk, and, when Martin Luther King Day rolls around, Bayard Rustin. But there were so many, many more. The Mattachine Society. Morris Kight. The Daughters of Bilitis. And, one day in 1968, a despondent exiled Baptist named Troy Perry who put an ad in a newspaper and started a congregation. It became the United Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, and it’s doing just fine.
Rev. Perry was one of the founders of Christopher Street West, establishing the Los Angeles Pride March, the first and oldest. He also filed the first lawsuit seeking recognition of same-sex marriage. He is, simply, an icon, but not an icon you’ll read about at the big gay blogs. Not, I think, because they don’t care, but because they’re unaware. Even my beloved Rev. Pat Bumgardner, pastor at MCC New York, was given only a single-post mention for being named co-Grand Marshal for this year’s NYC Pride Parade. The real news, it seems, is that Dan Savage and his partner Terry are the other Grand Marshalls. I don’t begrudge anyone any of this, but it always stings a little bit to know so many of us have so little use for our elders. Pat Who? Troy who? Oh, look, it’s Dan Choi! Hurry, we can get a picture with him. Oh, wait, there’s Alan Cumming! I gotta tweet this, I have to!
So today Frank and I will be going to the MCCNY Easter banquet. Rev. Pat will be there, along with Rev. Perry. And tonight I’m taking Frank to hear Troy Perry, one of the best, funniest, most humane preachers I’ve ever heard. He’s 71 years old now. I remember seeing him at an LA Pride Parade when I was 19. How can I not think this is a little more significant than the latest Queer Rising marriage action or a kiss-in in the UK? These are people who made these things possible, and I hope we never forget them.]]> -
Long term care costs remain on the rise
My parents were lucky, if you can call it that. Mom died at home after a third bout with cancer. They gave her six months to live and that’s what she dutifully did, but not until celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
Eleven years later Dad died from a combination Alzheimer’s and pneumonia. He was in the hospital, but not long. Neither required long term nursing care. It remains one of life’s fears, even for the generally fearless: ending up in a nursing home, or having to place someone we love there, whether it’s a parent or a spouse, and the costs of it continues to rise.
From Senior Housing News:
The average annual cost of care for a private room in a nursing home increased to $85,775 per year, up 3.5% from the previous year according to a study from John Hancock Financial.
Its findings revealed that the national average annual cost of care in the US is $75,555 for a semi-private room in a nursing home; and $39,240 for an assisted living facility. The average cost of care received at home was approximately $20 per hour.
“The ongoing effect of the recession on the nest eggs of so many individuals underscores the importance of planning for the future,” said Marianne Harrison, President of John Hancock LTC. ”John Hancock believes that long-term care insurance is an integral component of any prudent financial plan. Our cost of care studies are intended to help people better understand and prepare for their future long-term care needs.”
The study surveyed more than 11,000 providers, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and home health care agencies, in key cities across the country.
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Three times as vulnerable: black, gay, senior
A lot of the gay and lesbian elder population has not been a focus of the conversation. Somehow they are a hidden population.” – Dr. Raphael Bostic The challenges facing seniors can be difficult enough. Compound them with being lgbt and black, and things can get harder. Below is a brief excerpt from an interview conducted by PrideSource with Dr. Raphael Bostic. Excerpt from an interview with Dr. Raphael Bostic (PrideSource): There is a triple threat facing the elder African American LGBT population in the Detroit area. Even though small in number, this particular group of people encounters difficulties in finding retirement homes, safety, recognition and financial security. Dr. Raphael Bostic, the assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development, attended an April 16 summit organized by KICK (an agency for LGBT African Americans) to address such concerns. Dr. Bostic spoke to BTL about discrimination and other issues faced by these elders. What were the common concerns discussed at the KICK summit? The elder LGBT population has significant challenges. They don’t have children who can offer them help and support. If they are with a partner they often don’t have access to their (partner’s) pension funds, so they can become extremely vulnerable rather quickly. This is a really important conversation, and a lot of the gay and lesbian elder population has not been a (focus) of that conversation. Somehow they are a hidden population. Elders in African American communities have difficulties, elders in general have difficulties and LGBT elders have difficulties, so this really overlays three types of groups. We don’t really know much about the challenges that this group faces and they are forced to be invisible because sexual orientation and gender identity are not protected classes, so landlords can and do discriminate against these (people). So sometimes they have to go back into the closet. One of the things we are trying work on is how often these issues arise so we can talk about it in an informed way and hopefully get to a place where that kind of discrimination happens a lot less frequently. (read on)
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Hospice Foundation webinar: supporting the LGBT community through illness, death and grief
I just attended a terrific webinar conducted by the Hospice Foundation of America on supporting the LGBT community in death, illness and grief. The two presenters were Dr. Kimberly Acquaviva and Dr. Kenneth Doka.
Dr. Acquaviva conducted the first part, which was aimed at professionals in the healthcare industry. She covered issues facing LGBT people and couples requiring care – does the healthcare professional’s agency have a non-discrimination policy for its employees, how are they prepared to serve the LGBT community. Does the intake person determine gender by looking at the person or is the person allowed to self-identify. It was all great information, and I was curious to know who was on the call. One of the best questions from a provider in the Q&A was when it was appropriate for a care provider to reveal his/her sexual orientation. Acquaviva, an out lesbian herself, answered that it is always about caring for the patient and there are ways to signal to the patient without coming out and saying it. Dr. Acquiviva is of the mind that it’s not a good idea for the provider to make any statement, not because they should hide it but because the care is completely about the patient.
Dr. Doka covered an area very familiar to me: grief and disenfranchised grief. I lost my partner Jim in 1991. He (and we) were treated with respect at Hollywood’s Kaiser Permanente. Jim’s life ended in a hospice. But one of my two sisters never acknowledged him when he was alive (she and her husband would not come to my parents’ house when we were there) and she never, not once, acknowledged my grief. That changed eventually and she and her family were welcoming to Frank and me, but her reaction as if the man I lost was not worth commenting on compounded immense grief with fury. It’s not uncommon.
Frank lost his partner Michael after 22 years, just seven months before we met, and I knew what I was dealing with. The grief section of the webinar was excellent, as were the many excellent questions. Just outstanding.]]> -
Medicare bonuses to offset cuts under new healthcare law
From the Los Angeles Times: Washington—
— Millions of seniors in popular private insurance plans offered through Medicare will get a reprieve from some of the most controversial cuts in President Obama’s healthcare law. In a policy shift critics see as political, the Health and Human Services Department will award quality bonuses to hundreds of Medicare Advantage plans. The $6.7-billion infusion could head off service cuts that would have been a headache for Obama and Democrats in next year’s elections for the White House and Congress. More than half the roughly 11 million Medicare Advantage enrollees are in plans that are rated average. The insurance industry says the bonuses will turn what would have averaged out as a net loss for the plans in 2012 into a slight increase. In a recent letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, two prominent GOP lawmakers questioned what they termed the administration’s “newfound support” for Medicare Advantage.
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Is the GOP setting its sights on AARP?
In what Democrats are calling a politically motivated move, three Republican congressmen are seeking an investigation to determine if AARP should be stripped of its tax-exempt status.
From Foxbusiness.com:
Three Republican congressmen are asking the IRS to investigate whether AARP, the powerful senior lobby and health care reform supporter, should be stripped of its tax-exempt status.
At issue is whether there’s a conflict of interest between the group’s mission to advocate for seniors and the money it makes from endorsing insurance products.
As a result of provisions in the health care reform law, AARP stands to make an additional $1 billion through royalties on insurance products branded with the organization’s name over the next 10 years, according to a 29-page report released March 30 by Republican members of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee. [SNIP] Democrats said the report was politically motivated, noting that Republicans lauded AARP’s endorsement of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, which created a private Medicare drug benefit. “But now, since AARP worked to help enact health reform and will surely oppose Republican plans to convert Medicare to a voucher, privatize Social Security and block grant Medicaid, Republicans want to bring them down,” said Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Pete Stark of California in a statement.]]> -
GOP jumps on third rail of politics, takes aim at Medicare
From the Washington Post: The candidates brandished a “Health Care Bill of Rights for Seniors” that promised to protect Medicare from their opponents’ “raid.” The party chairman wrote an op-ed warning that the other guys’ plan meant that “senior citizens will pay a steeper price and will have their treatment options reduced or rationed.” The ads were even blunter. “You cut our Medicare,” one accused. “And this November, you’re fired.” Democrats in any election you care to name? Nope. It was Republicans running against the Affordable Care Act’s Medicare cuts in 2010. It worked, too. Seniors turned out in big numbers, and Republicans carried voters over 65 by an astounding 21 points — by far their biggest margin among any age group. [SNIP] The 2012 budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and passed by House Republicans on Friday would privatize Medicare and shift most of the entitlement’s future costs onto seniors. According to the Congressional Budget Office, come 2030, seniors would be paying for nearly 70 percent of their private Medicare-certified insurance out of pocket. If the program were left alone or reformed another way, they’d only be paying 25 to 30 percent. Ryan has considered this problem and chosen to exempt everyone over age 55 from his plan and delay implementing it for a decade. But since he needed savings now, he adopted all of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicare cuts — the very cuts his party opposed in 2010. There’s courage in that move, as many of those savings are wise, but there’s also rank hypocrisy for, well, the same reason. Beyond that, there’s risk. Republicans are relying on the senior vote like never before. And they might have just put it into play.]]> -
British Columbia Seniors Games to have gay team
It’s great to see athletes in my age rage and older. Maybe I’ll be one of them someday, when I get serious about my health and stop the inertia.
The Seniors Games in Canada’s British Columbia will have a gay team for the first time.
From Canada’s Xtra:
The first gay and lesbian team to attend the BC Seniors Games is in training and on track to queer up one of the province’s biggest sports gatherings.
“Let’s be there and be queer” is the group’s catch-cry as it seeks competitors and supporters for the games, hosted by the West Kootenay towns of Nelson, Trail and Castlegar from August 16-20.
Alexandra Henriques, community developer for Qmunity’s Generations program, is coordinating the pioneering contingent.
“Individuals have gone to the games, but we’ve never had an organized queer representation as far as I know,” she says.
“There’s a sport or activity for everyone aged 55-plus, everything from card games to pool to one-act plays.”
The annual event attracts about 3,500 participants in more than 24 activities, including archery, badminton, bocce, bridge, carpet bowling, cribbage, cycling, darts, dragon boat racing, equestrian events, five-pin bowling, curling, golf, horseshoes, ice hockey, pickleball, soccer, tennis, table tennis, track and field, and whist.
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Artist in San Diego donates proceeds to LGBT seniors
San Diego artist William E. Kelly recently had an exhibit and donated 30 percent of the proceeds to San Diego’s LGBT senior community.
From LGBT Weekly:
Local artist William E. Kelly hosted an event last night at the White Buddha Lounge at Saigon on Fifth to benefit the underserved LGBT senior community in the city of San Diego.
[SNIP]
“The community is ill-prepared to meet the increasing burdens that a growing senior and LGBT senior population is experiencing or about to experience in increasing numbers,” Kelly explained to the San Diego Gay and Lesbian News. “This is a brewing crisis. We need to not only make the community aware of the challenges but bring them together to find reasonable solutions.”
For his 60th birthday, Kelly and his husband Bob Taylor requested donations in lieu of gifts in order to open the Kelly/Taylor Senior Assistance Fund at the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation – an organization with which Kelly has long been connected.
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Survey focuses on treatment of LGBT elders in long-term care facilities
A recent report shows more than half of surveyed LGBT older adults believe we’ll be mistreated in long term care facilities.
From Senior Housing News:
Results from a survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults found more than half believe that staff or other residents of long-term care facilities would abuse or neglect an LGBT elder.
Published by the National Senior Citizens Law Center, the survey reached 769 individuals, of those people, 328 reported 853 instances of mistreatment in such facilities. Of those participating in the survey, 284 identified themselves as LGBT older adults. Others said they were family members, friends, social service providers, legal services providers, or other interested individuals.
“Our hope is that this report provokes thought, raises critical questions, and compels future systematic research that can be used to dive deeper into the issues raised by these findings and the many personal stories we received,” says National Senior Citizens Law Center Executive Director Paul Nathanson.]]>