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Many older LGBT people never married since country-wide same-sex marriage wasn’t legal until 2015, but still lived in a domestic partnership with the same person for many years. The Merion also reconsidered the wording on their application forms. Because same-sex marriage was not legalized for so long, and because LGBT people sometimes don’t receive support from the immediate family, many consider their friends and social connections as their family, rather than their blood relatives. (The Merion)Īlban also said allies and senior care workers should consider the idea that, for LGBT people, family doesn’t always mean relatives. They hope this will make community spaces, such as the gym, a welcoming place for all.
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In their training, the Merion staff learned how to ensure residents treat each other with respect. It’s not appropriate in a senior housing community, he said. Many young LGBT people have reclaimed queer as an identity, but for many older LGBT people, the word still has negative connotations associated with its history as a slur. The Merion brought in SAGECare professionals for a day, and staff learned about the unique needs of the LGBT elder community and how to best meet those needs.Īlban used the word “queer” as an example. There’re very few people focused on the elderly, and SAGE is.” And those people need people fighting for them. “There are tons of people fighting for young, 20-year-old LGBT people. “This isn’t in a group of people that have a lot of people fighting for them,” he said. I wear that label unabashedly.”Īs a gay man himself, Alban knows that being LGBT “is a difficulty enhancer.” Because of his job with the Merion, he became very involved with the older LGBT community in Chicago, and realized this group needed more advocates fighting for them. “I myself am a gay man, and I am a proud social justice warrior. “I brought it up in the context of a meaning, what some of the constituencies we can go after?” Alban said. Ryan thought it would be a good idea after Marsha Wetzel’s case, and Alban feels passionate about LGBT advocacy work.
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Merion social worker Anne Ryan and marketing coordinator RJ Alban brought up the idea of doing this training to their boss. It all began right after Marsha Wetzel’s case went to court in January 2016. In June, Evanston’s The Merion, at 1611 Chicago Ave., used SAGECare to become Illinois’s first certified LGBT-friendly senior housing facility. SAGECare offers trainings on support older LGBT adults for businesses, nonprofits and housing facilities. In response to this fear, many senior housing facilities have put time and energy into becoming more LGBT-friendly. Senior-specific LGBT programming, such as the lunches hosted at the Center on Addison, can help LGBT seniors feel connected to the community. With these shocking statistics and news stories about how LGBT people are treated in homes, it’s no surprise that 33 percent of LGBT seniors fear they would have to hide their sexuality in a nursing home. And in 2014, the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging Found that 46 percent of same-sex couples confronted adverse and differential treatment – ranging from gossip to violence- in their senior housing facilities.īut older LGBT people are more likely to be single and without children, forcing them to move into a home so they can receive care and not feel alone.
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LGBT senior Marsha Wetzel said she faced harassment and violence in her Niles nursing home and is now seeking legal redress. Older LGBT people often face discrimination, especially in senior housing. Luckily, new diversity trainings for senior homes can help staff treat LGBT residents with respect and dignity.
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When searching for a senior housing facility, most people ask the standard questions: What are the meals like? What are the costs?īut for LGBT people, the process becomes more complicated because they have to consider how LGBT-friendly the home is.