LGBTQ+ elders—the population SAGE represents and serves—experience severe challenges as members of overlapping disadvantaged and marginalized social groups. Through SAGE’s work and a growing body of research, we know that LGBTQ+ elders face social isolation; discrimination in healthcare, housing, and employment; disproportionate rates of poverty; health disparities; and lack of access to caregivers and other elder supports. All these challenges are exacerbated for LGBTQ+ elders of color and transgender elders.
SAGE was founded to address the needs of LGBTQ+ elders, who were effectively excluded from mainstream service systems and often lacked the care and support system traditionally provided by biological families. Over time, SAGE has expanded to provide a wide variety of programs and services, meals, social interaction, and housing supports. In addition, over the last decade, SAGE has increasingly turned to policy advocacy, training for aging-services providers, and other strategies to combat the systemic barriers facing LGBTQ+ elders. […]
Click here to read the full piece. This story was originally published by Generations Today on December 5, 2023.
