Tag Archives: LGBT seniors

NBC News reports: A federal court on Wednesday ruled against a lesbian couple who brought a lawsuit against a Missouri retirement home that rejected the women’s apartment application because their marriage is not “understood in the Bible.” Bev Nance, 68, and Mary Walsh, 72, married a decade ago in Massachusetts and have been in a committed relationship for roughly 40 …

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: A St. Louis County senior community has denied housing to a married lesbian couple who have been together for nearly four decades because of the couple’s sexual orientation, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court. Mary Walsh, 72, and Bev Nance, 68, both of Shrewsbury, say the Friendship Village senior living community, …

San Diego’s KUSI-TV reports: Assemblyman Todd Gloria, Councilman Chris Ward and others Friday celebrated the opening of North Park Seniors, which is being called San Diego’s first LGBT-affirming senior housing community.  Studies suggest the need for LGBT-friendly housing continues to outpace demand amid rental discrimination cases. The building will have 76 affordable apartments for qualified people 55 and older; seniors …

NBC News reports: Advocates are outraged that questions about LGBTQ seniors have suddenly been removed from an annual survey that determines services for elderly Americans. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) uses the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants (NSOAAP) to decide how to allocate federal funding to groups that work with the elderly. For years, LGBTQ …

This is pretty major. Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: Hillary Clinton unveiled on Thursday her comprehensive policy platform aimed at continuing advancements in LGBT rights. The Democratic presidential front-runner said in a statement her proposal would build off the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this year in favor of same-sex marriage. But the document announces a few new initiatives, …

Via White House press release: As part of the White House Conference on Aging today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued guidance to better serve and help avoid discrimination to LGBT Americans seeking HUD-assisted or HUD-insured housing. The guidance will help clarify the Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender …

Fantastic news from SAGE! New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) announced today that Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) was awarded an Innovative Senior Center (ISC) contract to open the nation’s first full-time center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults. SAGE the country’s oldest and largest …

JMG reader and prolific YouTube activist Sean Chapin covers the case of Clay and Harold, the Sonoma County, California seniors whose decades-long relationship was ignored by hospital administrators. The horrible result of that injustice was covered on this blog on Friday and over the weekend the story got much wider notice across the progressive blogosphere.

Caroline Leto and Venera Magazzu of Dania Beach, FL, met at a party in 1939. They’re still together. Yes, couples in their 90s still argue occasionally. This is how it went recently for Caroline Leto and Venera Magazzu as they sipped lemonade on their couch in Dania Beach: “We’re not going to have a party,” said Magazzu, 97, insisting they …

Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that will protect LGBT seniors in nursing homes. The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires licensed health care professionals who have constant interaction with seniors to attend a training program on preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. “Some members of the (LGBT) community living in nursing homes have been denied …

From Newsweek: Gerontologists haven’t traditionally viewed sexual orientation as relevant to their work—and, according to a study by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, most national health surveys of elderly citizens fail to assess sexual orientation. But gay seniors confront unique challenges: they’re twice as likely as straights to live alone, and 10 times less likely to have a …