Housing experiences of older LGBTQs

This article come from The Guardian. It’s an article from 2012, but the issues, unfortunately, are still prevalent today.

Is the housing sector prepared to meet the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as they get older?
Men carrying rainbow flags take part in annual Gay Pride Parade

Three in five LGBT survey respondents said they were not confident that housing services would understand or be sensitive to their needs Photograph: Francesco Spotorno / Reuters/REUTERS

By John Thornhill and Tina Wathern on 3 May, 2012

A generation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) men and women who came out of the closet following the decriminalisation of male homosexual acts in 1967 and the New York Stonewall riots of 1969 are now entering retirement. Continue reading

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LGBTQ people with dementia should not be forced back into the closet

This article comes to us yet again from the UK-based source, The Guardian.

There are 1.2 million older lesbian and gay people in the UK, yet they are an invisible population

older gay couples

Social care services tend to assume that older service users are heterosexual. Photograph: David Poller/Zuma Press/Corbis

A colleague recently told me about two older male residents in a care home where she once worked. Staff initially supported the burgeoning friendship between the pair, who both had dementia. However, when it became obvious the men were attracted to each other and might develop a relationship, support workers stopped seating them together and threatened to tell relatives. Continue reading

Older LGBTQ people still experience prejudice from care staff

This article originally appeared on The Guardian’s website.

By  on 16 September, 2013

In some cases older LGBT people in sheltered housing and care homes have hidden their sexuality

Two elderly men

Some older gay couples hide their sexuality when they go into a care home. Photograph: Zoe Ryan

When same-sex marriage became law in July this year it was a victory for gay rights and another step towards complete equality. But for a whole section of the LGBT community, it seems there is still some way to go. Continue reading