It is normal for the younger generations to care of the older generations. An increasing problem about that is that the LGBTQ+ senior community is starting to head to the back burner. There are reports of abuse in retirement homes to those who are out publicly. With the majority of those of senior age not having a partner or children, they tend to be abandoned or abused badly. There are resources that help win the fight for those who are experiencing trouble. We don't tend to think that we will grow old, but it is something that as we age we need to think about. Even heterosexual seniors experience abuse because of other reasons.
Abuse is not okay regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Did you know that 90% of LGBTQ+ seniors don't have children vs. 20% of heterosexual seniors according to Nursing Home Abuse Center. It has been seen that LGBTQ+ seniors tend to use nontraditional support methods to make up for being abandoned. I know some seniors that aren't a part of the rainbow community that rarely have family visiting but still have the one or two that do. As we age, our brain begins to lose brain cells. If we continue to stay social and not seclude ourselves, we tend to live longer. That is something to think about.
Abuse can come in different forms. Examples of abuse that dominates in the LGBTQ+ senior community are physical violence/threats, verbal harassment, sexual, financial, and housing discrimination. As a result, a lot of the members of the community hide their sexual orientation to try and avoid abuse. This is never okay. We hear a lot of domestic abuse problems for both genders and there are always advocates, but rarely for the elderly in both cisgender/heterosexual and LGBTQ+ communities. We need to go back to respecting our elders.
People are starting to notice that LGBTQ+ senior care is an issue. There are resources that help battle that problem. A good website is Volunteer Match because it can direct you to any organization of your choosing. You could input LGBTQ+ senior care as keywords. With the benefits of those who visit seniors,there is no reason why we can't band together as a community to help support those LGBTQ+ seniors.
Two other websites that you can look into is Sage and The National Resource Center on LGBT Aging. Sage is the oldest organization that originally fought for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community when it started in 1978. Their website has information on how you can help. The National Resource Center on LGBT Aging is a site that is dedicated to the aging LGBT community. It provides resources on how you can help or to get information for various reasons.
The abuse of the LGBTQ+ community is better than it was, but we never hear about the abuse of the elderly in retirement homes. Seniors sometimes don't have the strength to fight back or are too scared to fight back. We need to continue to look on this issue, because of the growing population of the LGBTQ+ community. We think that we will be forever young, but there will be a time where need help. Wouldn't you want help as the time comes?
