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“Our generation did so much, we shouldn’t just be thrown away,” Hayden Smith said.
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Neglect and isolation are especially prevalent when their peers - the only support network many of them have due to family rejection - die off or age themselves, as research shows older LGBTQ adults are less likely to be partnered or married or to have children to depend on as caregivers. One-third of LGBTQ older adults live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, including 40 percent of African American LGBTQ older adults, according to one groundbreaking report co-authored by Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), the nation’s oldest and largest advocacy group for LGBTQ elders, and LGBTQ think-tank Movement Advancement Project (MAP) released in May.Īdvocates attribute the economic disparities of black LGBTQ elders to longstanding race, age and LGBTQ discrimination, which has been exacerbated by a lack of equal protection under the law and social stigma. The sparse research available on this embattled group reveals chronic levels of discrimination, poverty, social isolation and physical and mental health disparities. And advocates say public policy changes, such as the Trump administration’s promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which in its most recent version includes deep cuts to Medicaid, will make their predicament worse. A Triple Threat?Īlthough economic, social, physical and mental health disparities are high among all LGBTQ older adults, the complexities of race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity are especially challenging for many black LGBTQ elders. Approximately 20 percent of LGBTQ older adults are people of color, a number expected to double by 2050. who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) - about 1.1 million are 65 and older. Hayden Smith and her partner are among the estimated 2.7 million adults age 50 and older in the U.S. After the basics, much of their income is spent on health care and, often, an ever-growing list of repairs for the house, which has been in her partner’s family for more than six decades. They can only afford to live in a crumbling six-bedroom townhome, which they share with three middle-aged and older straight and lesbian women. She and her partner of 30 years, a 78-year-old woman whose names she prefers not to mention, have had health challenges, forcing them to live on a fixed budget in pricey Washington, D.C. For now, her dream is in stark contrast of her reality.