June 2022

First Executive Order to mandate federal policy action for LGBTQ seniors

21 Comments / LGBTQ Seniors, Social Justice /

In honor of Pride Month, on June 15th 2022, President Biden signed an Executive Order that will advances protections and support for the LGBTQ+ community. This Presidential Executive Order is the first of its kind that directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish a long-term care “Bill of Rights for LGBTQI+ Older Adults” and provide new guidance on the nondiscrimination protections for older adults in long-term care settings. The Executive Order is reflective of language from the Ruthie and Connie LGBTQ+ Elder Americans Act, named after lesbian activists Ruthie Berman and her late wife Connie Kurtz introduced by Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici of Oregan that proposes increased federal funding support on the behalf of millions of LGBTQ seniors through the Older Americans Act (OAA).

According to the White House Fact Sheet, President Biden’s Executive Order builds on the historic progress he has made for LGBTQI+ people by:

  • Addressing discriminatory legislative attacks against LGBTQI+ children and families, directing key agencies to protect families and children; 
  • Preventing so-called “conversion therapy” with a historic initiative to protect children from the harmful practice;
  • Safeguarding health care, and programs designed to prevent youth suicide;
  • Supporting LGBTQI+ children and families by launching a new initiative to protect foster youth, prevent homelessness, and improve access to federal programs; and
  • Taking new, additional steps to advance LGBTQI+ equality. 

Read the full White House Fact Sheet here

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Department of Veterans Affairs Approves Gender Affirming Surgeries

67 Comments / Health /

From Department of Veterans Affairs

VA currently provides all medically necessary gender-affirming care to transgender Veterans with the exception of gender-affirming surgical interventions, due to an exclusion in the VA medical benefits package. The LGBTQ+ Health Program is pleased to share that in the summer 2021, VA will be initiating the rulemaking process to modify the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to expand VA’s care to transgender Veterans to include gender-affirming surgery.

  1. VA currently provides all medically necessary gender-affirming care to transgender Veterans with the exception of gender-affirming surgical interventions, due to an exclusion in the VA medical benefits package.
  2. Gender-affirming procedures have been proven effective at mitigating serious health conditions, including , substance abuse, and dysphoria.
  3. Removing this exclusion would allow VA to provide transgender and gender diverse Veterans with coordinated, medically necessary, transition-related surgical procedures. In addition, revising the medical benefits package would enable a safe, coordinated continuum of care that is Veteran-centric and consistent with VA’s values of equity and respect for all Veterans.
  4. The entire rulemaking process can take approximately two years and includes a period of public comment. This will allow VA to develop the framework to provide the full continuum of care in a way that is consistent with VA’s rigorous standards for quality health care.
  5. During the rulemaking process, VA will continue to provide or pay for the services it currently offers, including corrective procedures after gender affirming surgeries a Veteran obtains outside VA, hormone therapy, and other gender affirming care.

For more information visit www.patientcare.va.gov/lgbt/

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LGBTQ elders face ‘caregiving crisis’: Meet 2 women hoping to bring change

64 Comments / LGBTQ Seniors /
By Meghan Holohan

In mid-January 2021, Sue Van Zante-Peiser received a call from her friend Ed’s partner. Ed had been hospitalized and the hospital was trying to organize care, but it was tough. Ed’s partner is a decade older and faced his own health issues and Ed’s sister lived out of state. Van Zante-Peiser offered to help.

“The hospital did not reach out to Ed’s partner and they literally said to me, ‘Well, they’re not a married couple,’ and I don’t even know how they could be saying that in 2021,” Van Zante-Peiser, 55, of Seattle, told TODAY. “The hospital let me call every day and find out if Ed had been eating or if he was able to walk and how he was feeling.”

Sue Van Zante-Peiser met her friend Ed 25 years ago at work. He soon became like one of her family, which includes, wife, Mary, and son, Joshua. When Ed became sick Van Zante-Peiser helped him as a caregiver. Courtesy Sue Van Zante-Peiser

Ed had dementia and when he felt confused and scared, the nurses called Van Zante-Peiser or his sister.

“One of us would say something loving to him for a minute, which usually would calm him down,” she said.

But figuring out where Ed should go was difficult. Ed couldn’t return home but there weren’t any beds for him in a skilled nursing facility. What’s more, Van Zante-Peiser worried about finding a place that respected Ed.

“I would do a lot of advocacy behind the scenes,” she said. “I talked to him every day … Usually our conversations were five minutes or less. He was very confused. He didn’t know where he was. He sometimes thought that he was in prison or he would joyfully think he was at a writer’s conference.”

As time went on the hospital relied on Van Zante-Peiser more.

“They were very happy to have me involved while I was helping to support them,” she said.

Van Zante-Peiser is one of the many people in the LGBTQ community that find themselves as caregivers to friends. Nearly 21% of LGBTQ people provide care to elderly friends compared to only 6% of non-LGBTQ adults because, in part, LGBTQ elders are four times less likely to have children, according to Sage, a nonprofit dedicated to advocacy and services for older LGBTQ people. This leads to tremendous problems.

“Older LGBTQ folks are among some of the most vulnerable elders in our country,” Michael Adams, CEO of Sage told TODAY. “We live in a country where 85% of caregiving comes from adult children and partners. So when you remove adult children from the mix all together and there is a reduced presence of partners, by definition you’re creating a caregiving crisis.”

Caring for LGBTQ Elders

Van Zante-Peiser met Ed more than 25 years ago at work and they became close friends. When Van Zante-Peiser became pregnant with her son, Joshua, who is now 22, Ed transformed into “a grandpa figure.” He was kind and generous. When Joshua graduated from high school, Ed gladly sat in the football stadium stands, watching 500 students traipse across the stage. It was easy for her to say “yes” to helping him.

“Ed is someone who had given so much to me personally and to my family,” she said. “It was an honor.”

READ MORE HERE

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LGBT Identification Ticks Up to 7.1%

16 Comments / Research, Social Justice /

BY JEFFREY M. JONES

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual has increased to a new high of 7.1%, which is double the percentage from 2012, when Gallup first measured it.

Gallup asks Americans whether they personally identify as straight or heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender as part of the demographic information it collects on all U.S. telephone surveys. Respondents can also volunteer any other sexual orientation or gender identity they prefer. In addition to the 7.1% of U.S. adults who consider themselves to be an LGBT identity, 86.3% say they are straight or heterosexual, and 6.6% do not offer an opinion. The results are based on aggregated 2021 data, encompassing interviews with more than 12,000 U.S. adults.

READ THE FULL ARTCLE HERE

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