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Lambda Legal Wins Lawsuit Against Feds For Social Security Benefits For Lesbian Widow

 

Today Lambda Legal announced the resolution of its lawsuit against the Social Security Administration (SSA) brought on behalf of Kathy Murphy, a Texas widow denied spousal benefits after the death of her wife, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (the National Committee).

“The Social Security Administration has finally adjusted Kathy’s monthly SSA benefit to recognize the reality that she was married to her wife Sara and is a widow entitled to the same treatment as other survivors. We are also pleased to announce that the SSA has finally updated its instructions to its staff in accordance with the historic Obergefell v. Hodges ruling last June,” said Susan Sommer, National Director of Constitutional Litigation at Lambda Legal.

“SSA has also issued other guidance to staff to manage claims from the LGBT community. With this good news, including SSA’s long-awaited changes to its policies to conform to Obergefell, we are hopeful that LGBT widows, widowers and retirees, wherever they live, will be able to receive the Social Security spousal benefits to which they are entitled.

“LGBT people, who earned benefits through years of hard work, deserve to receive them without further delay and at long last to have their relationships treated with dignity by the federal government. Although SSA still needs to update some of its instructions and practices to fully recognize LGBT families and their rights to benefits, these recent developments come as a very welcome step. We call on the SSA to prioritize awarding benefits to the many LGBT people who were unfairly denied them in the past.”

For more than 30 years, Texas residents Kathy Murphy and Sara Barker shared their lives together. Three decades after they first met, Kathy and Sara legally married in Massachusetts in 2010. Like other married couples, they hoped to grow old together and to live out their retirement years in safety, security and dignity.

Tragically, Sara lost her battle with cancer in March 2012 at age 62, leaving Kathy a widow. Because the couple lived in Texas, which refused to recognize their marriage at the time of Sara’s death, SSA also wouldn’t recognize the marriage, denying Kathy spousal survivor’s benefits earned by Sara over a lifetime of work.

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The Year of ‘Enormous Rage’: Number of Hate Groups Rose by 14 Percent in 2015

America is getting angrier, according to one watchdog.

For the first time in five years, the number of hate groups in the United States rose in 2015, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal and advocacy organization known among other things for monitoring extremist activity.

The number of such groups spiked 14 percent in 2015, a year characterized by levels of polarization and anger perhaps unmatched since the political turmoil of 1968, the center said in the report on hate and extremism released exclusively to The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Swelling numbers of Ku Klux Klan chapters and black separatist groups drove last year’s surge, though organizations classified as anti-gay, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim saw small increases, too.

“It was a year marked by very high levels of political violence, enormous rage in the electorate and a real significant growth in hate groups,” said Mark Potok, author of the report.

The center credits a number of factors for inciting that anger, including shifting demographics that largely favor non-whites; immigration; legalized same-sex marriage; the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement; and the all-too-real atrocities carried out by Islamic terrorists.

A creeping rhetoric of intolerance among politicians helped to normalize hate, the center argued. And while it singled out other presidential contenders, too, the center—which conservatives criticize for casting too wide a net—stated that Donald Trump had “electrified the radical right.”

“Hate in the mainstream had absorbed some of the hate on the fringes,” the group wrote in the report, which is published in a magazine whose cover prominently features Trump alongside domestic terrorists.

The Intelligence Report’s spring cover features Donald Trump front and center—alongside several domestic terrorists. (SPLC)

Racist extremists were responsible for the spike last year, SPLC found.

The number of KKK chapters in America more than doubled from 2014 to 2015, rising from 72 to 190, according to the report. That growth was “invigorated” by several hundred pro-Confederate flag rallies, which largely channeled white anger over the group’s declining demographic and economic position, the group said.

Black separatist groups also multiplied, rising from 113 in 2014 to 180 last year, “pretty much as a direct result of the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Potok said.

But unlike the members of that movement, the separatist groups represented an extreme position that “demonized” whites, gays and Jews.

The number of black separatist groups was the highest of any year since at least 2000, according to SPLC data. The number of Klan chapters was the highest of all but one year — 2010 — during that time period. Those numbers exclude white nationalist and racist skinhead groups.

For all of its effort at documenting hateful association in the United States, the SPLC noted that its 2015 count was likely an underestimate, as extremists increasingly turn to the Internet to congregate anonymously.

Critics have suggested the opposite—that SPLC overestimates the number of hate groups. A broad definition of “hate” leads the SPLC to cast too wide a net, unfairly ensnaring groups simply for having strong conservative views on topics such as abortion or illegal immigration, the organization’s detractors have argued.

Hate groups aside, the SPLC also documented a 14 percent swell in anti-government “patriot” groups — militias and others motivated by conspiracy theories. Those “patriot” groups are not necessarily violent or racist, but rather tend to fear and oppose a “New World Order” and be staunchly anti-government.

The number of such groups — counted separately from hate groups — rose from 874 in 2014 to 998 last year. The groups were emboldened, SPLC said, by Cliven Bundy’s 2014 standoff, in which he was joined by armed ranchers in facing down federal authorities over a dispute related to land rights.

As to what the future holds, SPLC’s Potok notes that FBI data shows hate crimes last year rose for just one group: Muslims.

“I think that gives an indication of what’s coming,” he said.

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There are Twice as Many LGBTQ People in Prison as in the General Population

Twenty-one percent of transgender women have spent time in prison or jail, versus 5 percent of all people in general.

The number of people in prison or jail who identify as LGBTQ is roughly twice that of their general population. And whereas about 8 percent of all youth identify as LGBTQ or gender non-conforming, 20 percent of youth in several juvenile detention sites across the country identified that way, including 40 percent of girls.

All these findings are included in a new report from the Center for American Progress and the Movement Advancement Project called Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails LGBT People. The report details how LGBT people of color are particularly affected.

According to the report, LGBT people are more likely to interact with law enforcement and enter a criminal justice system where they are treated unfairly and more likely to be locked up and to face abuse once there. They also face additional challenges upon leaving incarceration and trying to rebuild their lives.

The report frames the issue in the broader context of a criminal justice system that is more likely to seek out and punish people of color, particularly African Americans. It also highlights individual stories, such as that of a gay youth mistreated by the child welfare system who spent time on the streets; several accounts from transgender people in prison; and a black gay man’s ongoing consequences of being convicted under an HIV criminalization statue in Louisiana.

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Number of Women at Boardroom Level Influences Whether a Company is LGBT-friendly

 

A comprehensive, 10-year study of Fortune 500 companies has conclude that greater gender diversity at boardroom level makes for a far more inclusive workplace for LGBT people.

The study has been published by SAGE in the journal of Human Relations, in partnership with The Tavistock Institute.

The report’s authors note that non-discrimination policies and domestic partner health insurance benefits are implemented only with the support of top leadership.

They looked at whether the gender of the CEO influenced the likelihood of a company having LGBT inclusive policies, and then at the gender diversity of that company’s board. On both counts, it looked at the years 2001-2010.

It concluded that although the gender of a company’s CEO had an influence on its LGBT-friendly credentials, that influence was far more pronounced if there was diversity across the whole boardroom.

‘While women CEOs are vital for advancing a company’s commitment to domestic partnership benefits and gender identity non-discrimination polices, diverse boards are associated with the full range of LGBT-inclusive policies and practices,’ the author’s concluded.

‘Firms with a higher percentage of women on the board and those with influential women board members are more likely than other firms to adopt a broad range of LGBT- friendly policies and practices.’

‘Our study suggests that diversity advocates committed to advancing inclusive policies – including but perhaps not limited to policies related to sexual orientation and gender identity – should prioritize board diversity.’

In a press statement, one of the report’s co-authors, Alison Cook, Associate Professor at Utah State University, commented, ‘Our study is important because it shows that leadership diversity can significantly influence a company’ likelihood of adopting inclusive polices.

‘Gender diversity in the boardroom is key; women directors increase a company’s commitment to equity and fairness and advance firms’ strategic goals.’

In terms of measuring a company’s LGBT-inclusiveness, the author’s made use of Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index – a ranking of US corporations based on their policies regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender staff.

Deena Fidas, head of HRC’s Workplace Equality Program, and co-author of the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, told Gay Star Business, ‘Corporate LGBT inclusion is inextricably linked to race, gender and other salient attributes in the workplace. It’s not surprising then, that corporate boards with greater gender diversity reflect corporations that also value and engage LGBT diversity.’

The report was welcomed by others working in the field of LGBTI diversity and inclusion. Selisse Berry, CEO of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, said, ‘It’s empowering to see that companies with a diverse board of directors are more likely to foster open and inclusive workplaces for LGBT employees and it’s not surprising that women understand the value of diversity and are willing to invest in developing it.

‘We all have attributes, skills and life experiences that contribute to the success of our work environment – LGBT employees are no different. Having a diverse board of directors that understands this helps bring together varied perspectives and ideas while also sending a strong message to LGBT employees that they are respected and valued.’

‘We strongly believe that increasing diversity within corporate governance structures has important direct and indirect impacts on company cultures and bottom-lines,’ said Juan Herrera, Director of Talent Initiatives at Out Leadership.

‘Our initiative Quorum, dedicated to increasing representation of LGBT directors on corporate boards, is particularly focused on the way that the intersectional nature of the LGBT community creates the opportunity for businesses to diversify their boards in more than one way at a time.’

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We Aren’t the Sex Police: What PrEP Providers Say About Condoms & STIs

 

The potent protection from HIV afforded by Truvada as PrEP allows men to have sex with less worry and fear of HIV. But some worry that the inclusion of PrEP as a public health strategy will lead people to abandon condoms—which still have a role to play in further reducing risk of HIV and other STIs. In San Francisco—even before PrEP’s availability in 2012—rates of STIs among men who have sex with men have been steadily increasing and rates of condom use have gone down.

BETA wanted to know—what do PrEP providers think? How do these practitioners, who see clients every three months for sexual health screenings and STI testing, talk to their clients about condom use, STIs and navigating the complicated landscape of protected, or safer, sex?

To find out, BETA talked to Stefan Rowniak, MSN, PhD, a PrEP provider and nurse practitioner at San Francisco City Clinic and researcher and assistant professor at University of San Francisco; Pierre-Cédric Crouch, PhD, ANP-BC, the nursing director at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation health and wellness center Strut; Robert Blue, a PrEP program coordinator for San Francisco City Clinic; and Hyman Scott, MD, who leads the Ward 86 PrEP Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital.

Here’s what they said.

The rates of gonorrhea, chlamydia and early syphilis infection have been on the rise in recent years in San Francisco. Do you see this as a major problem?

Pierre-Cédric Crouch, PhD, ANP-BC

Pierre-Cédric Crouch, PhD, ANP-BC

Pierre-Cédric Crouch, PhD, ANP-BC: Obviously nobody wants to get gonorrhea, chlamydia, or syphilis, but these are risks that we have from living. The only way to completely avoid them is to not have sex at all and that’s not who we are as humans. You can also get the flu from having sex, or strep throat. People die from the flu. People don’t die from gonorrhea, but there’s more stigma attached to gonorrhea than the flu. The levels of STIs are going up in San Francisco—and have been since before PrEP was available here—but they’re nowhere close to what they were in the 70s and 80s.

Stefan Rowniak, MSN, PhD

Stefan Rowniak, MSN, PhD

Stefan Rowniak, MSN, PhD: That’s a very difficult question—but one the community is going to have to answer. If people suddenly find themselves saying, ‘My god, this is the third time I’ve gotten gonorrhea in three months,’ they may think, ‘What can we do about this?’ It’s going to take people realizing that they don’t want to get gonorrhea over and over again every time they have a new sex partner. Health providers will be there to help the discussion along—but we’re not the sex police. We are there to inform and help people make those decisions themselves.

Since gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis can all be treated, how do you talk to clients about the potential harms associated with these STIs?

Hyman Scott

Hyman Scott, MD

Hyman Scott, MD: At this time, these STIs are all treatable with antibiotics, but just because they are treatable do not mean that they are benign.  What is a concern is that we are seeing rising rates of drug-resistant gonorrhea, and we shouldn’t forget that gonorrhea can cause sterility. And while syphilis is still treatable with penicillin, with the increase in total cases, we’re seeing more of the complications that come along with syphilis such as neurosyphilis, vision impairment, and vision loss. Giving people the full picture is important—not to spread fear, because we want to have a sex-positive approach when we’re talking about sex—but so that people have the information they need to make decisions about their sexual health.

Some people worry that PrEP is, or will, cause people to abandon condoms. Are your clients changing their condom use now that they’re on PrEP?

Robert Blue

Robert Blue

Robert Blue: Yes and no. There are some people who start taking PrEP and they actually start thinking more about their sexual health. Their thought seems to be, ‘Well, I’m taking PrEP for my sexual health, why would I then go out and not use condoms?’ There are people who didn’t use condoms before PrEP, and that doesn’t change. And there are some people who, once they started taking PrEP decided to stop using condoms.

Crouch: We haven’t seen much change, but it’s difficult to measure. Some people will come in and report that they used condoms all the time before they started PrEP. But when you ask a few more questions, you find out that there were exemptions to it—the person didn’t use condoms with their main partner or those few times with their fuck buddy. So it wasn’t really 100% condom use to begin with.

Scott: I think for some clients, there is a change in the way that they decide to use condoms [on PrEP], but there’s a lot of variability. Some people may change their condom use with certain partners, but not others. With the rise in STIs and increased uptake of PrEP, there is a real desire of some to make that linkage and say that one is causal to the other. We have seen a rise in STIs before the increased uptake of PrEP. Studies that have systematically looked at this haven’t found much of an overall change in the level of condom use among PrEP users, but it will also be important to monitor as PrEP roll-out expands in more real-world settings. Anecdotally, we’ve had people who don’t change their condom use at all. It’s definitely something we need to keep track of, but at this point we don’t have data to say that initiating PrEP is the reason people change their condom use, if they change it.

Do condoms still have a role to play in gay men’s sexual health alongside PrEP?

Crouch: Condoms still have value. They do a good job of reducing transmission of gonorrhea and chlamydia—less so for syphilis. They don’t provide 100% protection, but they do have value. All in all, we don’t know five years from know how people will use condoms when they’re on PrEP. I could see it being similar to what happened for oral sex—in the 90s, when people thought you could get HIV from oral sex, there was a big push for people to use condoms for oral sex. I don’t know if that’s what people really did, but now that we know the risk of HIV transmission from oral sex is so rare, I think people in general gave up on feeling like they should use condoms for oral sex. Of course there’s still a risk of getting or transmitting other STIs but the risk of HIV is so slight with oral sex. It’s the same way for anal sex if you’re on PrEP.

Rowniak: I don’t believe people will completely abandon condoms in favor of PrEP. Rather, I think people will use condoms with some partners and in some instances and not in others. I think people feel, to a certain extent, a little frightened after spending years and years using condoms, and all of a sudden not using them at all. So the pendulum might swing back and forth until it reaches a place to settle.

Blue: We know that while PrEP is highly effective in preventing HIV transmission, it is not 100%. Many people still feel more comfortable using condoms while taking PrEP. We also know that PrEP doesn’t prevent the transmission of other STIs and that condoms can be an effective STI-prevention strategy.

Scott: Condoms absolutely have a role to play. One thing to remember is that we’ve never studied PrEP versus condoms—PrEP has always been inclusive of condoms. The package that includes PrEP is not just one pill per day. It’s about condom promotion, too. There are a variety of ways that people can have protected or safer sex, and we want to give people the tools that fit within their sex lives and support them with all of these options.

Do you advise your clients to use condoms? And if so, how do you have those conversations?

Blue: Yes, we do. Ultimately, we want people to think logically or rationally about their sex lives (acknowledging that sex is not often our most rational form of self-expression!). We want people to be able to evaluate their risk of HIV and STIs and decide on what prevention strategies make sense for them.

Rowniak: I make a point to talk with clients about when it might be appropriate to use condoms—and when it might make sense to reintroduce condoms back into sex. These conversations help get people to think about using condoms, and that’s really the first step. Introducing this new thought about condoms helps people think about ways they might like to be a little more circumspect.

Crouch: Our job is to provide education and have the client come up with their own informed sexual health plan. We tell clients that PrEP isn’t 100% effective at preventing HIV infection, even though we haven’t had any infections on PrEP yet—because nothing in life is 100%. Condoms provide extra protection against gonorrhea and chlamydia. We frame it as, ‘Using condoms with PrEP is your best overall protection.’ But we don’t lecture anyone to do, or not do, anything. We’re here to inform and help support people in whatever they decide to do. If condoms haven’t been a problem for a client, they should definitely continue to use them—though condoms aren’t always easy for people to use. They can break. Some people tell us they have trouble maintaining an erection with them. Some say condoms reduce intimacy in relationships. It’s ultimately an individual decision. There is no right or wrong answer.

Scott: I’m humble enough to know that I only get the opportunity to spend 30 minutes, maybe an hour, talking with patients about a variety of medical conditions including their sexual health, which is balanced with all the other needs and considerations in their daily lives. I give them guidance and recommendations but I don’t try to convince them to use condoms if they’ve already made up their mind about condom use. I meet my patients where they’re at and see how open they are to exploring condom use. Recently, I saw someone who was diagnosed with early syphilis. We started treatment [for syphilis] but then also talked about why he didn’t use a condom with this new partner, despite his ‘rule’ to use condoms with new partners. His response that, ‘The guy was just my type’ was incredibly  insightful and understandable. So there was something powerful about desire and passion, and wanting to make a connection with his partner that influenced his decision making. So I explore the barriers and facilitators people may have for condom use, but never pass judgment on their decision.

Want to read more about PrEP, STIs and other issues related to gay men’s sexual health? Read a commentary by Hyman Scott, MD MPH and Jeffrey Klausner, MD, published in AIDS Research and Therapy.  Sexually transmitted infections and pre-exposure prophylaxis: challenges and opportunities among men who have sex with men in the U.S.

Providers can find more information about counseling new PrEP clients, discussing risk and helping clients choose prevention strategies on BETA and in Gilead Science’s Information for Health Care Providers: Truvada for a PrEP Indication publication. Read more about how to create an inclusive health care environment for LGBT people and how to take sexual health histories in a way that is sensitive and inclusive with these resources from The Fenway Institute.

For more information about PrEP services at the gay men’s health and wellness center in the Castro, Strut, visit www.strutsf.org. Find out more about the Ward 86 PrEP Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. Continue learning more about PrEP at www.prepfacts.org or on BETA.

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Legal disputes increasing between couples who live together

Cohabitating couples are splitting up with the help of lawyers in a growing number of relationships.  According to 45% of members in a recent survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), legal disputes between unmarried couples who had previously lived together are on the rise during the past three years.  A significant 70% of the attorneys also noted a decrease in cohabitation agreements being drawn up between same-sex partners since same-sex marriage has been legalized.

“Even without an engagement ring or marriage license, a live-in relationship can often produce a number of legal complexities and tangled disputes that could require the involvement of legal counsel,” said Joslin Davis, president of the AAML.  “While cohabitation agreements might represent an effective option for a variety of partners with finances and assets to protect, we are also finding a substantial decrease in these contracts for same-sex clients, coinciding with the marriage equality movement in recent times.”

Overall, 45% of AAML members have cited an increase in the number of legal disputes between unmarried couples who had previously lived together during the past three years, while 53% stated no change, and 2% saw a decrease.  In all, 26% cited an increase in cohabitation agreement requests from unmarried couples, 68% said no change and 6% noted a decrease.

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Study Shows Positive Psychological Effects of Hormone Therapy in Transgender Individuals

Transgender individuals may experience significant improvement in psychological functioning after as little as 3–6 months of hormone therapy, with improved quality of life reported within 12 months of initiating therapy by both female-to-male and male-to-female transgender individuals, according to an article published in Transgender Health, a new peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available open access on the Transgender Health Web site.

Jaclyn White Hughto and Sari Reisner, Fenway Health, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Boston, MA), and Yale School of Public Health (New Haven, CT), reviewed the evidence from published studies of transgender adults treated with hormone therapy for gender identity disorder. The researchers report the changes in mental health status—including depression and anxiety—and quality of life outcomes after 3–6 months and 12 months of hormone treatment compared to baseline measures. They present the study design and results in “A Systematic Review of the Effects of Hormone Therapy on Psychological Functioning and Quality of Life in Transgender Individuals.”

“Reviews of the existing literature of this nature are hugely helpful in moving the field of transgender health forward,” says Editor-in-Chief Robert Garofalo MD, MPH, Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Director, Center for Gender, Sexuality and HIV Prevention, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “This work highlights a healthcare disparity affecting transgender people—depression and anxiety—and offers a potential therapeutic option to help eliminate or reduce it: access to hormone therapy. It sets the bar for future research to be conducted in this area, which is sorely needed and may help some clinicians caring for transgender people.”

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Report: Unprecedented Onslaught of State Legislation Targeting Trans Americans

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released a report detailing an alarming onslaught of legislation nationwide targeting transgender people, and particularly children.

An unprecedented 44 anti-transgender bills are being considered in 16 states, and the quantity of these harmful bills is as striking as their diversity: some undercut the ability of transgender people to access gender-affirming health care; some create state-sanctioned avenues of anti-transgender discrimination; and others deny transgender people access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams consistent with their gender identity.

The disturbing proliferation of anti-trans bills, including 23 that target children in schools and school sports, is part of a stunning surge of more than 175 anti-LGBT bills in 32 states this year.

“This deeply disturbing trend is a stark reminder of just how vicious and deplorable  opponents of equality are in their relentless attacks against our community,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “HRC will continue to work with our state and national partners to vigorously oppose and work to defeat legislation that threatens the fundamental human rights of transgender people. As we work to defeat these discriminatory bills, we will also continue our efforts to advance critically-needed protections at the state, local, and ultimately the federal level for LGBT people all across this country.”

In 2015, at least 125 anti-LGBT bills were introduced  in state houses all across the country. Twenty-one specifically targeted transgender people, though none became law. This year, the South Dakota legislature has already approved legislation that would, with the stroke of Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s pen, prevent transgender students in public schools from using restrooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identity.

Dozens of other anti-trans bills across the country target transgender people, and in particular  kids, in myriad ways, among them:

  • Bills targeting transgender children at school and on school sports teams by forbidding them from having equal access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities. These measures would compromise the physical and emotional safety of transgender youth, and put them at increased risk of attack and abuse;
  • Bills that would deny transgender people equal access to restrooms in public places, from the coffee shop to city hall. Nearly a third of the anti-equal access “bathroom bills” would apply statewide to multi-user restrooms, locker rooms and similar facilities. If passed, some impose criminal penalties on transgender people who use restrooms consistent with their gender identity;
  • So-called First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) bills codifying discrimination against transgender people by explicitly permitting publicly-funded programs to refuse service on the basis of “sincerely-held religious beliefs” that a person’s gender is determined by their anatomy at the time of birth;
  • And measures preventing transgender people from changing their gender marker on their birth certificates; from legally marrying; and from accessing medically-necessary care.

These deeply disturbing bills are surfacing around the country, in states with gender-identity inclusive non-discrimination laws, and those without; in states led by Democrats and those led by Republicans.  Many of the proposals are in conflict with other important state laws on the books. And many could put schools in violation of federal Title IX civil rights law prohibiting gender identity discrimination in education — potentially placing them at risk of losing federal funding.

Fear and a lack of understanding of transgender people are driving these egregious measures, which are addressing phantom problems, and have the potential of risking the safety, security and well-being of transgender people, including children, across the nation.

Read the full report here.

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New Blog: Aging Gayfully

This is the first of what I hope will be a forum for older LGBT adults. I hope you will share your thoughts and experiences about aging with me.

As some of you may know, I am passionate about the “conscious aging” movement and eager to share it with my LGBT community. This movement is all about changing “the aging paradigm” in a youth-obsessed culture and exploring how we can better prepare for the challenges and as well as utilize the opportunities afforded by our extended life span.

As part of a project sponsored by Adult and Aging Services and funded by the LGBTQI Giving Circle of Sonoma County, I am currently offering an 8-week series called “Aging Together With Pride!” that is being offered in four Sonoma County locations. In one of the early sessions, I was asked why I felt there was a need to focus on the LGBT community.

“Hidden, isolated, and underserved” is a phrase we often use to describe today’s LGBT seniors. Even though as LGBT seniors we are more at risk for loneliness, depression, disability, HIV/AIDS and alcohol or drug abuse, research shows that LGBT seniors are only 20% as likely as heterosexual elders to access services!

There are a couple of possible explanations. The first is that many of us quickly learned that our survival depended on staying closeted. For much of our lives being homosexual or transgender was a crime, a sin, and a mental illness. Many of us were alienated from our families, lost jobs, were victims of violence, and were incarcerated or institutionalized. We learned to be vigilant and our instinct to hide persists in spite of increasing social acceptance, often preventing us from seeking help when we need it.

The other reason is that individuals and agencies that provide the services we may need are not always sensitive to our history of being marginalized and the effects of our societal scarring. Their assumption is often that we are heterosexual, leaving us to wonder how we might be treated if we “came out” about our sexual orientation or gender identity. Fortunately the grant project also includes cultural competency trainings about these issues that are being provided to Sonoma County aging service providers by my former Spectrum colleague Nancy Flaxman.

Future blogs will explore optimal aging strategies that capitalize on our qualities and strengths as LGBT elders.

Buz Hermes is co-facilitator of the Sonoma Valley LGBT Seniors Group and a former staff member of Spectrum’s Senior Outreach Program. He has also provided supportive programs for caregivers of persons affected by HIV and AIDS and has been a coordinator of services for low-income seniors. He can be reached at GaryDHermes@comcast.net.

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Emails reveal Hillary Clinton ‘Pushed Obama Administration’ to Tackle Anti-gay Laws in Africa

 

Newly-released emails from Hillary Clinton have revealed she pushed the Obama administration to take a harder stance on anti-gay laws in Africa – and reveal her excitement to be honoured at World Pride.

Hillary Clinton served as US Secretary of State from 2008 until 2012. The State Department is continuing to release batches of non-classified emails from her time as Secretary, after controversy surrounding her use of a private email server.

An email released this week from the Clinton server showed that one year into her job, Clinton was pushing for a more proactive stance on global LGBT rights after a confrontation between her and the Ugandan President.

A meeting summary emailed to Clinton in December 2009 confirms: “Cheryl [Mills, Clinton Chief of Staff] noted that she had raised with Johnnie Carson [African Affairs Secretary] the need to look at what anti-gay laws other African countries, besides Uganda, had adopted or were considering.

“In the subsequent Deputies Meeting, Johnnie noted the proposed draconian legislation in Uganda as well as the Secretary’s intervention with Museveni.

“He indicated he would send a message to all our African posts asking them to report on similar legislation or efforts in their countries and to provide their thoughts on a strategy, including public diplomacy efforts, to counter this trend.”

Other emails reveal the excitement of Clinton and her staff to be honoured at London’s 2012 World Pride festival.

It came after Secretary Clinton’s landmark speech to the UN in Geneva in July 2012, when she urged world leaders to be “on the right side of history” on LGBT rights.

Diplomat Ken Kero-Mentz had emailed Secretary Clinton’s office to ask what she would like done with the tribute artwork, which was in the US Embassy, featuring “the words of her speech sewn in to the flag”.

An email chain shows a picture of the artwork was then shared with Clinton and the staffers who contributed to the speech.

Clinton speechwriter Megan Rooney replied: “This is kind of neat”, while foreign policy adviser Jacob Sullivan responded: “Very cool.”

Hillary Clinton herself responded to the chain among her staff, suggesting they all go and see the artwork on her next trip to London.

She wrote: “If I go back to London I could do photo. Then we have to decide what to do w it.”

Huma Abedin, the chair of Clinton’s Presidential campaign, responded: “pretty amazing. we should frame it and hang it somewhere!”

Clinton has attracted scrutiny over her gay rights record during her current Presidential campaign, after attacks from rival Bernie Sanders.

Though Clinton has won support from most major LGBT organisations for her LGBT policy manifesto, Mr Sanders has decried the groups as part of the “establishment”.He also claimed that Clinton “insulted the entire gay community” on the issue, as her husband signed the anti-LGBT Defence of Marriage Act into law as a compromise with Republicans.

Mrs Clinton did not endorse same-sex marriage until 2013 – after she concluded her term as Secretary of State. Senator Sanders backed it in 2009.

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