LGBTQ+ Elders: Resilience and Inspiration
Dear Friends,
It is often said that one of the greatest measures of a society is how it treats and remembers its elders. SAGE’s commitment to an equitable world where LGBTQ+ elders are valued and have boundless opportunities is inspired by this time-honored maxim. The inauguration of our country’s 45th President is a critical moment to reiterate this message.
Our values as a society must support and honor our elders both because their hard work and perseverance laid the foundation for all that we have today, and because we still very much need their wisdom and contributions. This is especially true for LGBTQ+ elders, whose courage in the face of danger and adversity paved the way for marked progress on LGBTQ+ equality in recent years. Our LGBTQ+ elder pioneers did not lead the movement birthed at Stonewall by being quiet and invisible. In the same vein, faced with dangerous threats on multiple fronts, LGBTQ+ elders and their advocate – SAGE – refuse to be silent and invisible now.
We must ensure that our older generations have the support they need to age safely and with dignity and respect. Like older Americans in general, most LGBTQ+ elders rely on Social Security in order to have enough to live on during their retirement, and rely on Medicare and Medicaid for their health and long term care. Just like other older Americans, LGBTQ+ elders rely on community services funded by the federal Older Americans Act. They rely on federal support for senior housing. They rely on the progress the federal government has encouraged through training of aging service providers and the establishment of anti-discrimination protections. These programs and protections are even more essential for elders who are LGBTQ+, people of color and members of other diverse elder communities – all of whom are especially vulnerable due to the accumulated effects of lifetimes of discrimination and marginalization.
While our elders need and deserve our support, we need them just as much. As we enter a threatening new era when our society’s fundamental values and commitments to each other are under attack, we need the wisdom and fortitude of our LGBTQ+ elders now more than ever. We will apply the lessons they learned through decades of hard work and struggle, using that knowledge to build a better future. We need their creativity, their spirit, their resilience.
In the days, months and years ahead, SAGE will stand firm with our LGBTQ+ elders for a policy agenda that makes older Americans a national priority, and that ensures that LGBTQ+ elders and elders from all diverse communities are at the center of that priority. We will do everything in our power to advocate for such an agenda. We will vigorously oppose any effort to roll back progress. We will relentlessly pursue our commitment to equity for diverse elder communities.
We at SAGE are inspired and fortified by the wisdom of our elders who have lived through decades of witch hunts, brutality, criminalization, stigma, AIDS and so much more. Our elders remind us that through all of these unspeakably difficult challenges, we stood firm, spoke out, and pushed forward.
Count on SAGE and our many supporters to continue that great tradition by standing with LGBTQ+ elders and honoring their unique voices and wisdom. This week you can find SAGE making sure LGBTQ+ elders’ voices are heard at the Women’s March in our nation’s capital, leading an elder activism institute at the national LGBTQ+ Creating Change conference in Philadelphia, and gearing up for a new initiative – SAGETable – that will connect LGBTQ+ people of every age all across the country.
Please, join us! Let’s be proud to be measured by how we treat and remember our elders.
Sincerely,
Michael Adams
LGBTQ+ elders needing emotional support are invited to call the SAGE LGBTQ+ Elder Hotline. SAGE established the hotline to make sure that LGBTQ+ elders have support no matter where they live. Provided in partnership with the GLBT National Help Center, calls are being taken at 888-234-SAGE (7243) on Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to midnight and from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturdays.
