Very cool — and a nifty place to send folks who need a crash course in our heritage, with some very worthy pieces about Frank Kameny and the Mattachine Society, and a great photo-illustrated timeline of milestones in LGBT history since 1958. (Click the image to go there.)
Incidentally… A few months ago, as my wife and I were talking about health insurance — and how we could expect Obama to write us a check for a million dollars before we’d ever see single-payer — I contacted AARP to ask if I became a member (which I’ll be eligible to do in just a couple of years — gulp!), would the AARP health plan cover my wife as well? I explained that we were married, but only in California, and she’s a fair bit younger than I am, and… yada yada yada… The answer was short, simple, and perfect (and I paraphrase): AARP recognizes the diverse needs of all families… so the answer is “yes.”
Nice. I’ve had issues in the past with AARP — all over its advocacy of private insurance, but nothing having to do with equality — but since knowing my wife and I will be able to get health insurance (we just need to stay healthy and uninjured for another couple of years!), and now, seeing this big, positive tribute to Stonewall… Well, nothing’s going to make me feel better about hitting my 50s, but it looks like AARP is going to ease some of the pain and horror.
Save the Date: Support our LGBTQ Senior Community on Feb. 3rd
Fountaingrove Lodge, California’s first LGBTQ Senior Community, needs your help! Please mark your calendar to attend this meeting in support of its construction, which has been stagnated by opposing neighbors.
February 3, 2008 3:30PM Santa Rosa City Council Meeting 90 Santa Rosa Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA
At risk: The first licensed LGBTQ senior care community in California.
The issue: The homeowners’ association in this high-priced area of Santa Rosa doesn’t want this type of development. Make them hear us. Stop the delays! Help show the City Council that further delay is unconscionable and without justification.
Even if you can’t attend, you should check out the Web site for this planned community — it’s very impressive.
… The creation of the Fountaingrove Lodge is literally the beginning of a dream come true. No place like this has ever existed before. Here LGBT elders will come together, live with pride, celebrate their unique culture and strength while continuing to share their storehouse of knowledge. …
Floor plans range from 900 to 2,600 square feet, with the choice of individual cottages, apartments in the main lodge, or flats.
An on-site Care Center assures provision for “aging in place” should full assisted living services be required, or the special “Life’s Neighborhood” program developed by Aegis to nourish and support residents with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
The Australian government has passed legislation recognizing same-sex couples under a large number of laws, but the measure falls short of granting either marriage or civil unions.
The omnibus bill mounted its final hurdle Monday, winning approval in the Senate. The legislation passed the House in September. It still requires the signature of the Governor General, a formality, before going into effect.
The Same-Sex Entitlements Bill removes discrimination against same-sex partners in areas such as immigration, taxation, veterans’ pensions and aged care. It also abolishes discrimination against children of same-sex couples by granting equal rights to both parents.
In total, it amends 68 Commonwealth laws.
“They deliver on a very important election commitment on an important day for us,” Labor senator Penny Wong, who is openly gay, told the Senate during Monday’s debate.
“They will deliver the sort of equality before the law that same-sex couples have never previously experienced.”
Green Party Leader Bob Brown, who also is openly gay and a long-time campaigner for same-sex rights, called passage of the bill a major step forward. …
I haven’t finished the first part of project mentioned here, but it’s getting there. In the meantime, while I continue to dig into the ugly depths of the anti-gay movement, here’s a quick rundown of what’s happening in our world:
Speaking of The Presumptuous Nominee, Queerty notes that Florida’s gay Democrats are disappointed with the Obama campaign, and quotes a report from Florida Capital News: “The leader of the Florida Democratic Party’s gay caucus, declaring that ‘I’m sick and tired of getting table scraps,’ complained Saturday that Sen. Barack Obama offended a large and faithful voting bloc by not sending his wife or another top campaign surrogate to the group’s annual meeting.”
Now, before anybody resorts to the tired old argument that ignoring gay groups is consistent with Obama’s refusal to pander to any single “interest,” we say: If Saint Barry can find the time to pander to hard-right Christian fundies — like he’ll be doing (again, and this time along with John McCain) at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church — then he can at least send his compulsive gum-flapper of a wife to talk to the Florida Democratic Party’s gay caucus. This isn’t like ignoring local gay press; this is an official caucus of the Democratic Party.
Back in the reality-based world, we’re happy to hear that activists in San Diego aren’t taking Doug Manchester’s campaign of anti-equality lying down — especially in one of Manchester’s beds. (Backstory here and here.) Just before San Diego Pride Saturday, between 150 and 200 people rallied in protest outside the Manchester Grand Hyatt (and were countered by about 75 bigots).
As for the San Diego pridefest itself, while Wendy Fry was bemoaning the fact that straight men just can’t wear boas and sequins the way gay men can, the “internationally renown anti-Scientology activism group Anonymous” was marching in its own contingent in the parade. If I were Anonymous, I’d remain anonymous, too. Those zany Xenuists scare the bejeebers out of my quivering little body thetans.
Tourism experts are “puzzled” since five grand is such a measly price to pay “for such a lucrative niche market.” We’re not puzzled at all; hysterical homophobia always trumps common sense. Look at Jamaica, where they’d rather murder us than prop up their own barely-on-life-support economy with our Big Gay Dollars. We say: Screw ‘em — both Jamaica and the Jamaica of the United States, South Carolina. Let them eat dirt.
Also, my dear Gaytheist shines the light on yet another example of masking bigotry behind “deeply held religious beliefs,” in the case of a gay-hatin’ British cop: What’s the Matter With the UK Lately?
(Speaking of dumb cops, one of the San Diego Harbor Police shot to death a go-go boy who fell off a pride-cruise boat, and got physical with his rescuers. I don’t care what the guy did — when you’ve got one suspect surrounded by a bunch of armed police officers, there can’t be any excuse for failing to subdue him without killing him.)
Elsewhere on the international front: We’re glad that Iris Robinson, wife of Northern Ireland’s First Minister, and Ignorant, Sour-Lemon-Faced, Mad Old Cow whose sunken, empty eyes are only accentuated by a criminal sense of makeup application (see the picture at the link), lives half a world away from us, so we don’t have to listen to her vile nonsense about how much worse homosexuality is than child sexual abuse.
And here are the rest of the headlines that caught my eye today — I’ll leave you to them while I get back to the dirty work of digging into the incestuous circle of money and hate behind the Proposition 8 campaign:
Young, Gay and Murdered Kids are coming out younger, but are schools ready to handle the complex issues of identity and sexuality? For Larry King, the question had tragic implications.
Concerns over living arrangements as one grows older are common. However there are extra challenges faced by the LGBT population due to the lack of equality in our society. A Place to Live highlights those unique obstacles in a thought provoking new documentary.
A Place to Live
Dear Friends & Colleagues,
The explosive growth in our nation’s aging population coupled with the recent housing market crash has set the stage for a major crisis. Until now, no one has addressed how this issue is impacting gay and lesbian seniors, individuals who have long been denied fundamental human rights and often struggle to make ends meet.
Join us in the creation of A Place to Live, a historic documentary that will chronicle the journey of seven brave individuals as they attempt to secure a home in Triangle Square, the nation’s first affordable housing facility for LGBT seniors. Your financial contribution is critical to help us complete the film and ensure that their story is told.
*****
For the seniors featured in the documentary, their future is anything but certain. Each participant faces a number of personal challenges:
· Margo must work two jobs in order to pay her rent, but with her failing health she won’t be able to keep it up.
· Art is lonely and isolated in his Section 8 Housing unit in east L.A. He yearns to live in a community of his peers.
· On the verge of homelessness, Karen’s only option is to move to a rundown trailer park in El Monte. It’s the best her sons can afford for her.
· Don’s house is old and falling apart, but he can’t afford to fix it. The roof is already leaking and the raining season has just begun.
*****
Although each senior applied for an apartment in Triangle Square, they are not guaranteed a unit. Since demand far exceeds the number of available apartments, a lottery system was set up to determine who will be selected. A Place to Live is an exploration of the applicants’ personal stories and the journey that brought them to the lottery. If they are chosen, the building is a dream come true - a beautiful, safe place to grow old, in the company of their peers. If not, many seniors will be forced to remain on the fringe of our community hoping for another lifeline to appear.
We need your support in order to share these intimate, thought provoking stories with our community. Please act now by going to the link below and making an on-line tax-deductible donation to the project. Donations can also be sent to the Center for Independent Documentary at the address below. Any amount of money will make a significant difference in our efforts. If we can raise $36,000 by the end of April, we can finish the offline edit, music score and obtain archival footage.
Together, we can make certain that those who fought for many of the rights we enjoy today are guaranteed a voice in the struggle for non-discriminatory affordable housing. The documentary, A Place to Live is that voice.
“The people living with HIV at my age deserve to have a life, to have dreams –
I do and I’m making the best of this box I live in,
but I also have a dream to live in Triangle Square.” Art Aguirre
We thank you.
To donate online, follow this link and select “A Place To Live” from the drop down menu asking for the purpose of your donation:
Or send your check to:
Center for Independent Documentary
680 South Main Street
Sharon, MA 02067
Please note “A Place To Live” in the memo section of your check.
While volunteers passed out cups of Jell-O to the white-haired lunch crowd at a senior center, another group was distributing something that didn’t quite fit amid the card games and daily gossip — condoms.
“You’re giving out condoms,” 82-year-old Rose Crescenzo said with a wistful smile, “but who’s going to give us a guy?”
The condom giveaway is part of an effort by New York City’s Department of Aging to educate older people about the risks of contracting the virus that causes AIDS. After the condom giveaway, free HIV testing was offered.
. . .
Dan Tietz, executive director of the AIDS research group, said HIV education is needed at senior centers, where the average age is more like 70, because “we know that people are still having sex well past 65.”
. . .
And Crescenzo, who lost her husband of 62 years last October, did take the condoms.
”If I get a date,” she said, ”I’m going to use one of these.”
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