The LGBT Aging Project endorsed Mass Home Care's "Invest in Community First" lobby day at the State House on Thursday February 26th, participating in the rally and visiting state legislators. Lisa Krinsky, Director of the Aging Project (pictured) spoke to the crowd of  over 200 elder advocates about how the Aging Project's mission of equal access to benefits and services for LGBT seniors and caregivers strongly allies with Mass Home Care's efforts to ensure equal choice and a secure network of community based services for all seniors.
 
7 LGBT seniors joined the Aging Project staff to visit state Representatives and Senators asking them to support community based services for seniors throughout Massachusetts. Thanks to our terrific advocacy team for bringing real faces of LGBT seniors to these legislators (photographed at the top of this newsletter!
 
Our advocacy team also talked about the /LGBT Elder Inclusion Bill/ which  would require the Executive Office of Elder Affairs to develop and implement LGBT cultural competency training for all their service providers. The /LGBT Elder Inclusion Bill/ is sponsored by the following
legislators: Reps. L'Italien, Turner, Puppolo, Canavan, Sciortino, Wolf, Smizik, Hargraves, Malia, Khan, Toomey, Peake, Hogan, Forry, Provost, Rush, Ross, Grant, Garballey and Kafka. Senators Jehlen and Candaras.
Please thank your legislators for their support of our bill!

 

 

Our family of LGBT Seniors and friends has been pleased to welcome a whole new crew of volunteers from Boston University's Joining Hands Program.  The popularity of this site has grown in one year. We started off the fall with three volunteers, now we have seven. These students ranging from freshmen to seniors at BU have become such a wonderful addition to our family at Café Emanuel. It is such a joy to observe the laughter and interactions with the students and our LGBT seniors (many of whom are BU graduates themselves).

 

 

Last month we were also joined for one day by a group of Americorps volunteers (pictured with Helen Waldorf). This group came with a double agenda. Not only did they come to volunteer and help serve the meal at the café, but they also came to recruit our LGBT seniors for a special volunteer project called Experience Corps which enlists seniors to help children in public schools with reading. Their motto is "Expereince Never Retires."  A special thanks to Helen Waldorf for giving a wonderful presentation on Climate Change (Al Gore's slide show). 

After a wildly successful gathering last month for the Out to Brunch group which featured a special performance by the legendary Alix Dobkin (pictured) the group will return to the same location at Roslindale House this month. This space enables us to welcome more seniors and Gloria Tower, site manager of Out to Brunch LOVES having a real kitchen!  

 

There is a new film making its way across the country that focuses on an important issue faced by many LGBT Seniors: housing.  The documentary, which has already won a number of awards at various film festivals, follows the journey of seven older adults as they attempt to secure a home in Triangle Square, the nation's first affordable housing facility for LGBT seniors. Because the demand for housing far outweighed the building's availability, the apartments were decided by a lottery. The film also documents the 'triumph of the opening of this historic building.'