Aging in the LGBT community

Dignity is a word people like to use when talking about the elderly. People age with dignity and die with dignity. What happens when a member of the LGBT community ages? Is there any dignity in being an elderly LGBT American? Imagine trying to feel dignified when the state makes your decisions for you. Imagine clinging to your dignity when the government takes away your property, your partner and your life.

The following are some general facts gathered by SAGE (serving and advocating for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender elders):

Recent estimates suggest that there are at least 1.5 million lesbians, gay and bisexual people 65 and older in the US, and this population will double by the year 2030. These figures are based on an estimate from UCLA’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and the Law the 3.8 percent of Americans identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. However, measuring the number of LGBT people is difficult, given the undercounting caused by factors such as stigma, underreporting and methodological barriers, such as inconsistent question formats.

Many LGBT older adults deal with poverty and with reduced economic security. For LGBT older adults, a lifetime of employment discrimination and other factors contributes to disproportionately high poverty rates. One study found that same-sex elder couples face higher poverty rates than their heterosexual peers; 9.1% and 4.9% between elder lesbian and gay couples, respectively, in contrast to 4.6% among elder heterosexual couples.

LGBT older people deal with significant health disparities across areas related to physical and mental health, including high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease HIV/AIDS and more—as well as with serious mental health concerns. According to a 2011 national health study, more than half of the respondents have been told by a doctor that they have depression, 39% have seriously thought of suicide; and 53% feel isolated from others.

Social isolation affects many LGBT older people around the country as they deal with stigma and discrimination in their daily lives and in our country’s aging system. The primary risk factors for social isolation affect LGBT older adults in unique and disproportionate ways. For example, one primary risk factor is living alone. LGBT older people are twice as likely to live alone, twice as likely to be single, and 3-4 times less likely to have children—and many are estranged from their biological families.

Many mainstream aging providers do not account for the unique realities and needs of LGBT older adults, leaving them at risk for isolation, neglect and discrimination. A recent national survey of LGBT older adults in long-term care facilities found that only 22% of respondents felt they could be open about their LGBT identities with facility staff, 89% predicted that staff would discriminate based on their sexual orientations and/or gender identities, and 43%reported instances of mistreatment.

LGBT-inclusive aging services help offset these problems by providing spaces for LGBT elders to find community and support—but they are sparse and underfunded. A 2010 nationwide survey of 320 area and state units on aging found that less than 8% offered services targeted to LGBT older adults and only 12% reported outreach efforts to this population.

Aging LGBT people also face financial issues. A report by the Movement Advancement Project titled Improving The Lives Of LGBT Older Adults states that LGBT seniors are poorer than heterosexual seniors are. LGBT seniors have more problems for a variety of reasons. First, many members of the LGBT community lose money due to the lack of Medicaid protections. Medicaid has spousal improverishment protections for married couples. These protections allow the healthy spouse to maintain a high enough income to live independently, while the other spouse receives Medicaid to pay for long-term care. Since the LGBT community cannot receive this protection, they often run out of money while caring for ailing partners.

In addition, surviving members of same-sex couples are unable to receive survivor’s benefits from social security. Married couples receive these benefits and use them to supplement their incomes. Estate taxes also financially cripple the LGBT community. When a person in a same-sex relationship dies, the surviving partner has to pay estate taxes on the property they inherit. This can be incredibly expensive, and causes many people to lose their savings.

The quickly changing state by state decisions about marriage and rights for the LGBT community bring hope to this bleak picture. Hopefully, LGBT elders can soon have the rights, support and resources to live and die with the dignity we deserve.

Equality

Lambda Legal has been hard at work on a broad range of issues including immigration, HIV, relationship recognition and workplace equality. With decisions last month in two high-profile cases they have been working with, they are now looking to the U. S. Supreme Court. It is the biggest breakthrough in the largest legal stage in the country ever in our history.

The U. S. Supreme Court has been asked to review two Lambda Legal cases:

The first so-called DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) is Golinski vs.OPM. Lambda Legal represents Karen Golinski, a lesbian federal employee who had been denied equal health insurance benefits for her spouse. The Department of Justice filed papers seeking Supreme Court review.

Lambda Legal won its case challenging Section 3 (DOMA) in federal district court and is now waiting for the Ninth Circuit Court appeal to make its pending decision. The Department of Justice is also asking the Court to review a separate DOMA challenge, Gill vs.OPM.

Diaz vs.Brewer is Lambda Legals' case defending family health coverage for gay and lesbian employees of the State of Arizona. This case is a matter of equal pay for equal work and protecting medical benefits for the same-sex domestic partners of state employees. The federal district court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have already ruled that trying to take away this family health coverage violated the rights of these employees who deserve to be treated the same as other state employees. Governor Jan Brewer and other state officials have now appealed these losses to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If the Court refuses to hear the case then the preliminary injunction that currently protects state employees will stand and maintain for the case's duration the health coverage they rely on to safeguard their families' health. If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, Lambda Legal will defend the lower-court's decisions for the workers and their families.

Lambda Legal is also involved in two other cutting edge cases. One champions the legal interests of people with HIV and has the potential to save the lives of many people living with HIV and end the AIDS crisis in this county by expanding Medicaid in all states so most low-income people, especially those with HIV, can get the health care they need.

Lambda Legal is also involved in a friend-of-the-court brief in the constitutional challenge to Arizona's discriminatory anti-immigration law. The lawyers of Lambda Law are making a strong case for equality. Equality for gays and lesbians is moving history forward at an astonishing speed. All of these issues are going to be watched closely by the gay and lesbian community as our human rights move closer and closer toward equality.