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 LGBT  Update   
 April 2012
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No FOOLin': APRIL Social is Sunday

           

 There'll be no FOOLing around this Sunday, APRIL 1st, when WLEN sponsors its monthly social for LGBT people 50 and over. Well, we love a party, don't we? Join us at Peppercorns, 455 Park Avenue, Worcester, at 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. You can order as much or as little as you want. Everyone pays for his or her own food and drink.

 

Here's a chance to get out, to meet new friends, and to be home at a reasonable hour. And if you insist on the playing the FOOL, just because it's the first of APRIL ... well, we'll have a FOOLishly good time.

 

For menu information or directions go to http://www.epeppercorns.com/ or call (508) 752-7711.

Don't be a FOOL and be left out. Join us!

Sexual Minority Stress Can Impact Mental Health

 

Recent research has demonstrated that sexual minority stress combined with the normal stresses of aging had a negative effect on the mental health of older gay men. The March issue of the American Journal of Public Health published the results of a study by Richard G. Wight and others. Wight is associate researcher at the Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health, and visiting scholar of public policy at the Williams Institute, also at UCLA.

 

Sexual minority stress includes the perceptions that the men had to conceal their sexual orientation or that others were uncomfortable with or avoided them because of their sexual orientation. Added to that was the trauma of seeing so many men in their social circles die of AIDS in the early days of that pandemic. These are compounded by the stresses of aging that many elders experience, such as loneliness, deteriorating health and financial concerns.

 

Not surprisingly the study also uncovered a link between same-sex marriage and improved mental health. Marriage has long been seen as beneficial to heterosexual couples, but the effects of marriage on same-sex couples has not been demonstrated conclusively because it is not widely available to LGBT people. Legal marriage, the study showed, delivered better mental health outcomes than domestic partnerships or civil unions.

 

The results of the study call attention to the need for targeted campaigns to combat the heightened risk for poor mental health in older gay men.

"Both sexual minority stress (perceived gay-related stigma, excessive HIV bereavements) and aging-related stress (independence and fiscal concerns) appeared to have been detrimental to mental health. Sense of mastery partially mediated these associations. Being legally married was significantly protective net of all covariates, including having a domestic partner but not being married. Education, HIV status, and race/ethnicity had no significant effects," according to the study's abstract.

(http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300384)

 

 

 

Elder Services and its programs are funded in whole or in part by contracts with or grants from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs. It also receives Federal financial support under the Older Americans Act provided by the Central Massachusetts Agency on Aging. Funders also include United Way of Central Massachusetts, City of Worcester's Department of Health & Human Services, Elder Affairs Commission Division, local Councils on Aging, participant donations, grants and individual support.

 
Kathy McGrath
Elder Services of Worcester
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