wlen logo
 


LGBT Update
June 2015
 
In This Issue

 

WLEN- Worcester LGBT Elder Network, is a joint effort of Elder Services of Worcester Area Inc.,Central Massachusetts Agency on Aging and the Worcester Senior Center, with ongoing collaboration with the LGBT Aging Project in Boston.

 



 

Rainbow Lunch

Club Bus Service

 

Did you know that you can reach the Rainbow Lunch Club via public transport?

 

The outbound WRTA Route 8 bus from Union Station to the Greendale Mall stops on Shore Drive across from the Unitarian Universalist Church parking lot. The inbound trip from Greendale Mall to Union Station stops at the bottom of the parking lot.

 

A bus leaves the Union Station Hub at 11:30 a.m., from City Hall at 11:33, and arrives across from the church at Shore Drive and Holden Street at 11:50 a.m. Buses from Greendale Mall to Union Station leave the UUWC parking lot at 1:03 p.m. or 2:03 p.m. They arrive at City Hall at 1:18 and 2:18 and at Union Station at 1:21 and 2:21.   

 

 

  




 

   

 

 

 

Follow us on  

Social Media

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 Quick Links




 
Elder Services and its programs receive funds administered through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs; and federal financial support under the Older Americans Act provided by the Central Massachusetts Agency on Aging. Other funders include the United Way of Central Massachusetts, Greater Worcester Community Foundation, Tufts Health Plan Foundation, local Councils on Aging & governments, participant donations, grants and individual support. We also contract with Senior Care Organizations, One Care Organizations and The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
 
1-800-AGE-INFO





























 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

     

 

 

 

 

 























Genderqueer and Genderfluid Identities    

By Ben Labonte, LGBT Peer Worker

third in a series

                

In the April issue of the WLEN newsletter, I talked about the four spectrums used to explain sex assigned at birth, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual (or attractional) orientation. However, genderqueer and genderfluid identities demand an ever more complex graphic, one that is at least three-dimensional, rather than a two-dimensional binary. For many younger gender-variant people, and a few older people who are revisiting their own identities, gender issues are not only non-binary but are fluid and can change over time.

 

Most people only became aware that such phenomena existed when Facebook announced it was going to offer 56 gender categories that its members could use to describe themselves. Peter Weber, in an article last year on Slate's Lexicon Valley blog called "Confused by All the New Facebook Genders? Here's What They Mean," boiled the 56 gender terms down to 18 categories:agender/neutrois, androgyne/androgynous, bigender, cis/cisgender, female to male/FTM, gender fluid, gender nonconforming/variant, gender questioning, genderqueer, intersex, male to female/MTF, neither, non-binary, other, pangender, trans/transgender, transsexual, and two-spirit. The fact that "neither" and "other" are choices indicates how much language around gender identity is in flux.

 

The words themselves tip the reader off to the unconventionality of genderqueer and genderfluid identities. Here are some Urban dictionary entries for genderqueer: "Genderqueer is most commonly used to describe a person who feels that his/her gender identity does not fit into the socially constructed 'norms' associated with his/her biological sex. Genderqueer is an identity that falls anywhere between man/boy/male and woman/girl/female on the spectrum of gender identities." While 1,103 readers approved the definition, 506 gave it "thumbs down." The eighth entry under genderqueer is telling: "The radical notion that a gender identity can be articulated imprecisely enough that it discourages people from trying to police it. Gender as in gender. Queer as in to disrupt. Genderqueer as in disrupting the ability to police this gender." That definition was liked by 47 people and disliked by 116 but expresses a basic concept that genderqueer and genderfluid people hold: Don't label me, don't impose a definition on my gender, let me define my own gender and change the definition as I deem necessary.

 

Which brings us to the question: What does "genderfluid" mean? According to a wiki on non-binary.org,

 

Fluid Gender is an identity under the multigender, nonbinary, and transgender umbrellas. Genderfluid individuals have different gender identities at different times. A genderfluid individual's gender identity could be multiple genders at once, and then switch to none at all, or move between single gender identities. For some genderfluid people, these changes happen as often as several times a day, and for others, monthly, or less often. Some genderfluid people regularly move between only a few specific genders, perhaps as few as two (which is one of the meanings of the label bigender), whereas other genderfluid people never know what they'll feel like next.

 

Article continued below      

 

 

Medal of Honor Lesson

Army Sgt. Ryan Pitts, recipient of the Medal of Honor for bravery, addressed the graduating class of University of New Hampshire last week. He was the only survivor of a firefight in Afghanistan in 2008. Here are words for anyone, but especially older LGBT adults who have known adversity:

 

Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the ability to move forward in the face of it. There is beauty in this definition, because courage can exist in the decisions we make every day. Courage exists in the individual who accepts who they are and openly lives the life they want in the face of rejection. Courage exists in those who challenge their own perceptions in the face of accepting they are not infallible. Be courageous and appreciate courage in others who take action in the face of fear.

 

In closing, Sgt. Pitts reminded the graduates, "The last thought I will leave you with is more a matter of character. Never forget those who helped you reach where you are." ("Medal of Honor Lessons for Graduates" by Daniel Ford, Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2015.)

 

 

   

Kim Dawkins from Pathways for Change Inc. will speak at the June 10 meeting of the Rainbow Lunch Club. Ms. Dawkins is executive director of the agency, formerly known as the Rape Crisis Center. She will address the impact of sexual violence in the LGBT community.

 

The second meeting of the lunch club, June 24th, will be a social get-together.

We ask people age 60 and over for a donation of $2.50. The charge for younger guests is $5.50. 

Lunch is always served at noon. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester  is located at the corner of Holden Street and Shore Drive in Worcester, next to Bancroft School. Access to the parking lot is off of Shore Drive. See the sidebar for information about WRTA bus service.

  

Reservations are required a week in advance, so we can be sure to have enough food for everyone who shows up. You may call Joan Anderson at (508) 756-1545 ext. 404 or email her at [email protected]. You may also join the Rainbow Lunch Club Meet-Up Group  and reserve from the meet-up page.

   
MENUS: June 10th: Soup, Roast beef sandwich, side salad and dessert. June 24th: Roast Turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, capri vegetables, and mixed fruit. 
     
Upcoming Dates:  

2015: July 8, July 22nd

August 12th, August 26th  

September 9th, September 23rd 

    

 

Ireland Votes for  

Marriage Equality

 

Last week, Ireland became the 21st nation to approve same-sex marriage and the first to do so by popular vote. Gay marriage is legal in parts of other countries, including the United States. Here are the other full nations with marriage equality and the years it became or will become effective.

  

2001 The Netherlands

2003 Belgium

2005 Canada and Spain

2006 South Africa

2009 Norway and Sweden

2010 Argentina, Iceland and Portugal

2012 Denmark

2013: Brazil, England, Wales, France,  

New Zealand and Uruguay

2014 Luxembourg and Scotland

2017 (becomes effective) Finland

 

 

 

Genderqueer Genderfluid continued 

 

When I first encountered the terms genderqueer and genderfluid, I admit that I was skeptical. However, when I began researching the topic - and especially when I met people for whom these are important concepts - I realized that the first principle in working with LGBT people of any age applies here: "You are who you say you are." So, the meanings and impact of these concepts may be best explained by the people who engender them.

 

"When I inwardly ask myself if I am a woman, the answer is no. When I inwardly ask myself if I am a man, the answer is still no. When I assume that I am non-binary I feel happier and more comfortable in myself." Cassian Lodge, who has legally changed their name so it does not reflect a male/female gender. (Quoted in "What's it like to be Mx?" by Olivia Goldhill, The Telegraph, May 11, 2015 (accessed May 19, 2015).

 

"What is Neutrois? Neutrois is a non-binary gender identity that falls under the genderqueer or transgender umbrellas. Definitions. There is no one definition of Neutrois, since each person that self-identifies as such experiences their gender differently. The most common ones are: Neutral-gender. Null-gender, Neither male nor female, Genderless, Agender." (Michah et al., http://neutrois.com/)

 

"I call myself a boi, a budding term used in the lesbian and queer community, and truly believe if energies were gendered, I would be just that. I have little to no desire to have surgery or take hormones, though I like it when you call me 'he.' I don't mind 'she' or 'they' because I am that, too. All of the above, please. Sometimes I feel completely male, and wish on those days I had an attractive male body to wear. But most days I feel like both. I know it is confusing. I even confuse myself sometimes, but that's simply how I feel. I don't feel masculine enough to be male, nor am I feminine enough to be female. I love and accept my female body, though I ask you to not suspect that makes me a 'woman'." (Jazzsoandso, Oct. 6, 2013,  http://jazzsoandso.com/2013/10/06/gender-and-the-in-between-a-gender-queers-journey/)

 

"At some point, my mom started to present as more androgynous, [I remember] my mom got their hair cut short. Then, when I was 12 or so, my mom started wearing less feminine clothing and stopped wearing dresses pretty much altogether. And when I was 13, my mom sat me down and said, I think the exact words were, 'I don't want to be a girl anymore.' That's when the process started.

 

"Now, my mom wasn't transitioning to be a man; my mom doesn't identify as male or female. My mom just identifies as non-binary, which means neither male nor female. And my mom uses any, or all, pronouns. We'll use she, her, hers; he, him, his; they, them, theirs. I usually use they, them, theirs because it's easier. They did medically transition a little bit but didn't take a really high dose of hormones - they still look pretty androgynous, really." "When a parent transitions: One teen shares her story" by Sabine as told to Alex Rees, Cosmopolitan, April 24, 2015, (accessed May 20, 2015).

 

There are several lengthy glossaries of gender-related terms available on the Web. Here are two: Genderqueer Identities and Terminology and  Trans, Genderqueer, and Queer Terms Glossary. LGBTTSQI Terminology is a glossary of general LGBT terms, including many gender-related words.