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LGBT SOCIAL SCIENCE & PUBLIC POLICY CENTER SPRING 2017 HALF DAY ROOSEVELT HOUSE SYMPOSIUM ADDRESSING KEY POLICY ISSUES IMPACTING LGBT OLDER AMERICANS
DRAFT Agenda 1/25/17
1:00 – 1:10pm Welcome to Roosevelt House, Introduction to the LGBT Social Science & Public Policy Center, Elizabethe Payne, Ph.D., Hunter College
1:10-1:20, Opening Remarks & Overview of Afternoon, Nancy Giunta, P...
RSVP HERE:
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LGBT SOCIAL SCIENCE & PUBLIC POLICY CENTER SPRING 2017 HALF DAY ROOSEVELT HOUSE SYMPOSIUM ADDRESSING KEY POLICY ISSUES IMPACTING LGBT OLDER AMERICANS
DRAFT Agenda 1/25/17
1:00 – 1:10pm Welcome to Roosevelt House, Introduction to the LGBT Social Science & Public Policy Center, Elizabethe Payne, Ph.D., Hunter College
1:10-1:20, Opening Remarks & Overview of Afternoon, Nancy Giunta, Ph.D., Hunter College
1:20 – 2:30pm Session One: Assessing the Policy Landscape for Healthy LGBT Older Adults
This session will review advances in LGBT aging from a research and policy perspective. Panelists will discuss past success and propose strategies for continued research and policy advances at the state and federal levels to protect the health and rights of older LGBT Americans.
Confirmed Panelists:
Sean Cahill, Ph.D., Fenway Institute, Federal and state policy changes to support healthy aging among LGBT older adults.
Loree Cook-Daniels, FORGE, On the Precipice: Transgender Elders.
Robert Espinoza, MPA, Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI). A Policy Roadmap: Reforms to Improve the Lives of LGBT Older Adults.
Policy Participation TBA
Moderator:
Katherine Bloeser, Ph.D., Hunter College
2:30 – 2:45 Coffee break
During the coffee breaks, a flip chart will be available for people to write notes/recommendations/questions. This will be used during the closing session.
2:45 – 4:00pm Session Two: Creating LGBTQ Aging Friendly Communities
Panelists will present and discuss local and state efforts to support age-friendly communities that promote equality and inclusion of LGBT older adults. The focus will include housing, culturally competent supportive services, and opportunities for social and civic engagement.
Panelists:
Mignon Moore, Ph.D., Barnard College. Social Support and Health Challenges in the Lives of Older, African American Sexual Minorities
Aaron Tax, JD, SAGE NYC, Improving the Lives of LGBT Older Adults.
Nancy Giunta, Ph.D., Hunter College. Supporting Cultural Competence in the Aging Services Network
NYC Council Member Ritchie Torres
Moderator:
Lindsay Goldman, MSW, New York Academy of Medicine.
4:00-4:15pm Coffee break
During the coffee breaks, a flip chart will be available for people to write notes/recommendations/questions. This will be used during the closing session.
4:15-5:30pm Session Three: Addressing the Needs of the Most Vulnerable LGBT Elders: Risks and Resilience
This session will focus on those with HIV, elders of color, and transgender elders who face the most precarious situations and are most likely facing intersectional discrimination in labor, health care, housing, and other arenas.
Panelists:
Jose Albino, M.Ed., GRIOT Circle. Meeting the Needs of LGBTQ Elders of Color.
Mark Brennan-Ing, Ph.D., AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA). How HIV Affects Social Support in Older Gay and Bisexual Men.
Alexis Kuerbis, Ph.D., Hunter College. Daily drivers of drinking among problem drinking men who have sex with men 50 and older.
Moderator:
Dan Gardner, Ph.D., Hunter College.
5:30 – 6:00pm Next Steps and Future Policy Directions
Using feedback and discussion from the previous sessions, this wrap up will offer reflections on research and consider concrete strategies for researchers and policymakers to support the human rights and civil rights of LGBT older adults in New York City, the State, and nationally.
Panelists:
Nancy Giunta, PhD, Hunter College.
Bobbie Sackman, MSW, LiveOn NY.
Moderator:
Elizabethe Payne, Ph.D., Hunter College.
America's older population is growing, and so is the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adults who are moving into their later years. There are an estimated two to seven million LGBT older adults in the United States (Giunta, 2016).. This population faces a complex set of risks beyond those of their aging heterosexual peers. Older LGBT adults came of age during eras of severe discrimination and stigma when homosexual sexual acts were illegal (such laws were not overturned until 2003) and there were no state of federal protections against employment or housing discrimination, physical violence against “out” LGBT persons was common and rarely prosecuted, and many families cut ties with their children once their sexuality was discovered. Older LGBT adults faced legal discrimination, stigma, shame, and violence throughout their lives often with no familial support. Additionally, many older LGBT people lost their non-family social support networks during the 1980s and 1990s at the height of the AIDS crisis. Today, 27% of Americans living with AIDS are over age 55 (CDC) and face health issues from decades living with the virus and its treatment. LGBT older adults are often reluctant to seek health or long-term care services and face greater health risks and care costs than their heterosexual and cisgender peers, due in large part to a perceived lack of cultural sensitivity among service providers (Giunta, 2016). Despite the increased visibility of LGBT issues in health and social policy and growing awareness of these disparities, considerable work is needed to promote the delivery of culturally relevant services (Giunta, 2016) and begin to include LGBT elders in the local, state, and national policy agendas.
Federal policies like the Older Americans Act (OAA) are meant to support aging services and ensure they provide a standard of care that brings dignity to the aging community (SAGE, 2016), however, LGBT older adults are not specifically covered and their addition to the legislation has prohibited the acts renewal. Without clear inclusion in federal policies, gaps in competent care and regulations allow discrimination and maltreatment to persist.