LGBTQ Youth

Homeless LGBTQ  youth in Utah face many obstacles and few options

Matt, 18  Ogden's OUTreach Resource Center Client

By Brody Levesque | OGDEN -- A new research study conducted by a Utah State University doctoral candidate-graduate student, Rachel Peterson, shows that the number of homeless youth in Utah identified as adolescent, (between the ages of 14 to 24) numbers at approximately 5,000. This figure according to Peterson is likely a large underestimate, who noted that previous research and studies have been limited to conventional data gathering relying on empirical data provided by state or local agencies, and the school districts around Utah.

The previous studies had placed the annual number of homeless youth at around 1,300. The study's results were released Tuesday.

During a phone interview with LGBTQ Nation Wednesday, Peterson said that about 40% of homeless youth in Utah identify as LGBTQ, and 50% of these youth come youth come from LDS (Mormon Church) families.

The study's findings included:

• 30% of youth have been homeless for over one year

• 42% of homeless youth have been in foster care. They often experience harassment and abuse in the foster care system for their sexual orientation or gender expression, and some youth choose homelessness over these environments.

• 56% of youth experienced abuse before becoming homeless and 37% experienced abuse after becoming homeless

• Many youth have engaged in survival sex, trading their bodies for food, shelter or other basic necessities. The risk of exploitation for youth on the streets is extremely high.

• Nearly 40% of homeless youth have attempted suicide. Two of every five homeless youth in Utah have tried to take their own life. And many more do take their lives.

"The problem," Marian Edmonds-Allen, executive director of Ogden's OUTreach Resource Center told LGBTQ Nation, "is that with the younger kids, those under the age of 18, there is only a small window of time opportunity to assist them daily."

Allen detailed the problem lying in Utah's family law, which classifies any "unaccompanied minor" living on the streets and homeless as a "runaway." 

"If we serve an unaccompanied youth, after 8 hours we must report the youth to the police or the DCFS.  Even if a child has been kicked out by their parents, that child is deemed a runaway under the law.  It is illegal for anyone to knowingly provide shelter to a youth."

She adds that any adult who assists a "runaway" longer than an 8 hour period may be charged with the misdemeanor crime of aiding and abetting a runaway. 

"I am often asked if there is any way to help homeless youth. “Yes, please,” I usually say, “they need clean socks, new underwear. When it is cold, they need hand-warmers  coats, sweaters. They also need sleeping bags, blankets, and if you have one, a wooden pallet so they don’t have to sleep on the ground. 

They are the nameless, faceless shadows in the local park, they are in front of the library, lined up to use the bathroom in the morning. They are sometimes holding a sign asking for help. 

Usually, though, you don’t see them unless they trust you. There are too many homeless youth and the counts  aren't often accurate because the majority of homeless youth are too afraid to be counted, who stay away from shelters for fear of assault or worse.

She says it's frustrating because there are only a couple of places including her center in the metropolis between Logan to the North, greater Salt Lake City roughly in the middle, and St. George at the southern tip which runs along side the Wasatch Mountain Range, where the bulk of the state's residents live.

Peterson said that with the attitude of the LDS church towards the LGBTQ community in general, there are no other options available.

Allen pointed out,

"The vast majority of the youth we serve are from Mormon homes, and far too often the reason they are living on the streets, in a camp, car or couch is because their parent said to them, “Pack your backpack and be out before dawn. Come back when you have “straightened up” or don’t come back at all.” 

For these youth, some as young as 14, they are left to fend for themselves. What usually happens is that as soon as they hit the street with their backpack or suitcase, a “helpful” adult offers them a ride and a couch to sleep on. The youth’s trust is misplaced when she or he is assaulted at night, or perhaps injected with drugs while she sleeps, and then enters into a life of addiction and trauma that lasts until true help is found, or too often, in tragic death." 

Kristina, 19 Ogden's OUTreach Resource Center Client

Allen and Peterson both told LGBTQ Nation that the other significant problem confronting LGBTQ youth is suicide, however Peterson said that there is a lack of hard data to establish the actual numbers of homeless youth suicides.

Allen said,

"But what we do know is that one of their camps in the canyon near Salt Lake City is called Suicide Rock. Every youth I meet knows one, two or several youth who have lost their life to suicide. The epidemic of LGBT youth homelessness and suicide in Utah is inextricably linked."

Politics & Policy

Second conservative Christian group in California pushing fabricated Trans harassment story

By Brody Levesque | TEMECULA -- As the battle over California's recently enacted law to protect the state's Trans students gets uglier, a Trans blogger has announced Tuesday that she has caught another conservative Christian group spreading a second "fabricated" story about restroom harassment on school grounds. Cristan Williams investigated a claim by Salt and Light Ministry- a division of Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship in Temecula, CA- that a trans female student harassed other female students in a Los Angeles area public school bathroom.

Williams contacted the Los Angeles Unified School District offices to fact check and verify the complaint and was told by a spokesperson that that no such incident had occurred.

"They did get the complaint" reported a spokesperson for the school district said, “and it turned out that it was fabricated by one of the parents who opposes transgender students in schools. So it was an unfortunate situation, to have to put the students through, but it was fabricated.”

The Houston, Texas based Williams had decided to verify the story after a report last week appeared on San Diego television station channel 10's website in which Dran Reese, Founder and President of SLC, relayed the allegations.

The Salt and Light Council group had joined with Liberty Counsel in September as part of Liberty Counsel's Pastors and Patriots initiative and is also a part of the coalition including Pacific Justice Institute of Sacramento, which is opposed to the state’s equal access laws for transgender students. Assembly Bill 1266 was signed into law in August by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown and stipulates that transgender students cannot be forced by school or other officials to use sex segregated facilities — like bathrooms or locker rooms — that do not correspond to their expressed gender.

The Pacific Justice Institute, an anti-LGBT group that the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as a hate group, had spread an earlier story about a transgender girl harassing students in a girls’ bathroom in a high school near Florence, Colorado, which was similarly disproved after officials in that school pointed out that they had received no complaints from students and only a couple of parents had complained.

Williams — who is transgender herself — pointed out that the coalition is employing tactics of false, transphobic smears in an attempt to repeal the anti-discrimination law.
The coalition of anti-LGBT groups calling itself “Privacy for All Students” has circulated 200,000 anti-trans petitions throughout California. Their goal is to collect 505,000 valid signatures by November 12, 2013. If they collect those signatures, it will stop the trans equality law from taking effect in January and put the civil rights of trans kids up for popular vote in November 2014.

LISTEN HERE: https://soundcloud.com/cristan-williams/trans-kids-peeping-in-girls

World

Australia

Tasmanian Parliament's Upper House defers same-sex marriage to Federal Parliament

By Desmond Rutherford | HOBART, Tasmania -- A motion to revive the debate over same-sex marriage in Tasmania's local parliament was defeated in a vote in the Upper House Legislative Council Tuesday, as the local MP's voted to leave the question up to the Federal Parliament in Canberra. 

Last year the MPs voted eight to six to throw out a private member's bill for state-based gay marriage, and Tuesday's vote makes the bid to enact a same-sex marriage law the second failure in two years.

The effort to revive the debate over bringing a bill was spearheaded by the independent Member for Murchison, Ruth Forrest, who urged her colleagues to consider the recent spate of same-sex marriage laws recently enacted in France and New Zealand.

"It is our job as lawmakers to show neither fear nor favour, but to do what is right," she said.

However, another independent Member opposed to the issue of same-sex arraignment told Legislative Council that the same-sex marriage debate was best left to federal politicians.

"This is a national matter in my opinion, and I feel very strongly about that," Ivan Dean said.

A spokesman for Australians for Marriage Equality, Rodney Croome, thinks it is only a matter of time before gay and lesbian couples are allowed to marry in Tasmania.

"Tens of thousands of Tasmanians passionately want this reform and will continue the debate regardless of what the Upper House thinks," he said.

The Save Marriage Coalition, which opposes any same-sex marriage in Australia, applauded Tuesday's result. Spokesman Guy Barnett said that the parliamentarians voted to preserve the sanctity of marriage.

"Marriage has been around for hundreds and thousands of years, it's an institution," he said, adding "Same-sex marriage denies a child the right to both a mother and father, and both mums and dads are important." 

Tasmania's actions come on the heels of last week's actions by the local parliament of the Australian Capital Territory, which last week became the first jurisdiction in Australia to pass a law legalising same-sex marriages.

The government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott however, is suing the ACT government in the country's high court arguing that the law in ACT is not consistent with the Commonwealth Marriage Act, only the Federal Parliament has the constitutional ability to pass same-sex marriage for Australia which Abbot himself is personally opposed to.
The government lawyers are seeking an expedited hearing in the high court to prevent same-sex couples from marrying in the ACT.

Around The Nation

North Dakota

Fargo city leaders pass resolution in support of LGBTQ residents

FARGO -- In a unanimous vote Monday, Fargo's city commissioners passed a resolution that states: "The city of Fargo encourages tolerance and acceptance of all citizens, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.”

It added language that noted that the city recognizes those residents whose gender identity “may not fit their assigned sex at birth.”

Commissioner Melissa Sobolik, who spearheaded the effort culminating in the 5-0 vote, acknowledged that the city cannot pass a significant measure to prevent housing discrimination against its LGBT residents, as the city's Home Rule Charter prevents such an ordinance without established pre-existing precedence codified in state law which North Dakota currently does not have.

Sobolik told reporters, it is difficult for the city to ban such discrimination without that foundation.  The resolution accepted by the commission Monday is a statement of principle, not an enforceable law.

“I wish there was more I could do at this point,” Sobolik said. “But please see this as a first step, and it’s a journey I’m committed to.”

City residents who attended Monday's session urged the city's leadership to take the lead in the state on the issues of LGBTQ equality rights.

North Dakota has a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and an earlier effort by the Legislature to pass an anti-discrimination measure that would have protected LGBT residents this year failed.

Commissioner Sobolik noted that although the city of Grand Forks, N.D. recently banned housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, she and the City Attorney's office allowed that Grand Forks officials were able to do so as part of that city's building & housing codes in its building registry.

Rental property owners there must register with the city and follow certain city policies and regulations. Sobolik said there are a “multitude of reasons” for the city to explore a registry, but she added it could be studied by the commissioners at a later date. 

Fargo attorney Tom Fiebiger challenged commissioners Monday to keep working with the City Attorney’s Office to “put some teeth” into city law to prevent housing discrimination against LGBT residents reported North Dakota media outlet InForum. 

Tom Freier, president of the conservative North Dakota Family Alliance, which opposed the resolution, argued that in his opinion [Fargo] is "already inclusive" and such a move would be divisive.

A local businessman and rental property owner stated that while he respects people of all sexual orientations, but he is not OK with the commission granting “special status to splintered groups,” which might infringe upon the rights of rental property owners.

“There are many of us here who are in support of existing housing laws and think they are just fine,” Brad Friesen said. “We support heterosexual standards and traditional family structures that have been the basis of strong society since the beginning of time.” 

He also equated being gay with paedophilia, and asked the commission where they “draw the line.”

A spokesperson for the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition criticised the resolution saying it didn't go far enough to protect LGBTQ people.

“It’s frustrating that North Dakota has not changed its laws with respect to LGBT residents despite several other states taking that step," Barry Nelson, chairman of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, said. 

“I’m disappointed that this is the baby step we need to be taking when people in our community live in fear that they may be displaced or lose their job because of their sexual orientation."

Nelson added that he hopes that Monday's resolution will “send a message” to the rest of the state.

“You will be adding to the momentum begun by the city of Grand Forks,” Nelson said. “It is right for all of our citizens.”

Around The Nation

Pennsylvania

Sweeping LGBT-Inclusive Reform signed into law in Philadelphia

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter

PHILADELPHIA -- A new measure signed into law last Thursday by Philadelphia's Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter offers tax credits to businesses that offer LGBT-inclusive benefits as well as specifying that new or renovated city-owned buildings include gender-neutral bathrooms in addition to traditional men's and women's restrooms.

The law also amends Philadelphia's amends the city's nondiscrimination ordinance to be inclusive of gender identity, and offers limited relationship recognition rights for same-sex couples.

Pennsylvania law currently bans same-sex marriage, however the measure changes city forms and websites to offer input options for LGBT persons and their partners. The new law also extends medical and end-of-life decision-making rights for same-sex partners.

"My goal is for Philadelphia to be one of, if not the most, LGBT-friendly cities in the world and a leader on equality issues," Nutter told Philadelphia television station WCAU. The mayor added that the signing the measure was personally important as the late City Councilman John Anderson, was his friend, a gay man, and a mentor who inspired him 30 years ago to pursue a life in public service.

The tax incentive program part of the legislation was supported by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce as well as LGBT advocacy groups.

Introduced by City Council member Jim Kenney, the bill easily passed the council last month which Kenney labeled “the next iteration of civil rights and freedom in the United States.”

"This is a city that is truly respecting all its citizens," said openly gay state House member Brian Sims, a Democrat representing Philadelphia, who helped draft the measure's language. "It is because of that respect that we are indeed a first-class city and we will continue to shine."

Sims also introduced a marriage equality bill last month. Pennsylvania is the only state in the northeastern U.S. that does not currently embrace marriage equality, nor does it provide civil unions, domestic partnerships, or any other form of relationship recognition to same-sex couples.

A federal lawsuit is currently pending that challenges Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage, and Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Kathleen- who supports same-sex marriage- said she believed it to be unconstitutional and added that she "couldn't ethically defend it."

The state's Republican Governor, Tom Corbett, has filed legal briefs in defense of the anti-gay law.

Equality Group Hosts "Drag Down Bigotry" Drag Show

TOPEKA -- The infamous Westboro Baptist Church found itself across the street from a drag show event hosted by its neighbor, the rainbow painted Equality House Saturday. The event was planned as a fundraiser for anti-bullying programs spearheaded by the nonprofit human rights organisation Planting Peace, which owns and maintains the Equality House.

According to a spokesperson for Planting Peace, its first ever drag show, which was entitled "Drag Down Bigotry," drew an estimated audience of around 150 participants.

"The fact is that teenagers across the country are taking their lives every year at an alarming rate. Research into these cases indicates that almost every suicide is the result of feeling less than or not good enough, many of these in fact being LGBTQ youth," Amelia Markham, Director of Outreach for Equality House said in a statement. 

"We want to use every opportunity we can to switch that message and preach love and inclusion instead of hate. The drag show was the perfect opportunity to declare that message and to raise funds for our anti-bullying initiative for schools in the area and eventually across the country."

Equality House has held a number of previous events which were designed to bring visibility to LGBTQ people and the LGBTQ community's issues across from the Westboro Baptist Church's compound, including a same-sex wedding and a lemonade stand that raised thousands of dollars.

"Our first 'Drag Down Bigotry' event was a huge success and we are very pleased with how many people participated in and/or supported our efforts," Aaron Jackson, President of Planting Peace said in a statement. "This was another successful step towards silencing the hate from the WBC and bringing awareness to the high suicide rate amongst our LGBTQ youth."

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Politics

ENDA to be brought to the full Senate for a vote before Thanksgiving recess

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office confirmed Monday that the Nevada Democrat will announce that he is bringing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act,(ENDA), which would ban on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, to the full Senate for consideration before its scheduled Thanksgiving Holiday Recess.

ENDA had been voted on and passed out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee with bipartisan support earlier this year.

A spokesperson for Reid told LGBTQ Nation that the exact scheduling of a floor vote has yet to be determined.

Tico Almeida, founder and president of Freedom to Work, a national LGBT organization dedicated exclusively to passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act told LGBTQ Nation in a statement;

“It is long past time that Congress come together to protect LGBT people from discrimination and harassment in the workplace.  After months of meeting with Republican Senators and their senior staff, we’re confident we have the 60 votes to defeat any attempted filibuster. We’re keeping the pressure up as the vote approaches.  Now is the time for the Senate to act.”

This is a developing story.

Today's Headlines from LGBTQ Nation Magazine

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HAWAII

Hawaii to become next state in same-sex marriage debate

KANSAS

Christian diners say gay waiter is ‘an affront to God’ and deserves no tip

INDIANA

Indianapolis chamber of commerce opposes gay marriage ban

IOWA

Anti-gay activists spent $833K in failed effort to oust pro-gay marriage judge

OKLAHOMA

Native American bloodline allows gay couple to be first to wed in Oklahoma

MICHIGAN

Mich. governor too focused on jobs to articulate an opinion on LGBT rights

ILLINOIS

Ill. governor: Veto session valuable to ‘lay foundation’ on marriage legislation

WASHINGTON (STATE)

Police: Boy ‘heard voices’ telling him to kill student who called his friend ‘gay’

KENTUCKY

United Way chapter cuts funding to Ky. Boy Scouts over gay scout leader ban

VIRGINIA

Second ex-gay group challenges Va. colleges over lack of ex-gay resources

NEW JERSEY

N.J. man convicted of killing, dismembering live-in boyfriend

IOWA

Iowa man appeals conviction that he violated HIV transmission law

WEST VIRGINIA

W.Va. county clerk wins more time to answer same-sex marriage suit

WISCONSIN

Wis. Supreme Court hears challenge to state’s domestic partner registry

HAWAII

Hawaii same-sex marriage ceremonies could start Nov. 18

Politics

Michigan Governor still avoiding taking a stand on LGBTQ equality rights

Michigan Governor Rick Synder

By Brody Levesque | LANSING -- During a press briefing Thursday, reporters pressed Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder on his policy stance over expanding civil rights protections based on sexual orientation.

Political observers told LGBTQ Nation Thursday that Snyder seems content with letting the courts sort out the issues as opposed to backing legislation or taking executive actions. Snyder says he's willing to discuss the issues- at some point- but, for now he says he's focused on jobs.   

"It's something at some point I'm happy to have a discussion on. I'm waiting to see when legislators may also have that as an item of interest," he told reporters.

Michigan newspaper columnist and political analyst Tim Skubick wrote earlier this week,  "You have to wonder what Gov. Rick Snyder really thinks, deep-down inside, about expanding the state civil rights act to include members of the LGBT community."

During Thursday's session, reporters pressed the Governor for details or a more complete explanation of his policy stance on LGBTQ issues:

Reporter: Is it acceptable in Michigan that someone can be fired from their job because they are gay or perceived as gay?

Snyder: Well again, in terms of people being fired for no good reason, again, that's always an issue, that shouldn't happen.

Reporter: Is being fired because you're gay or perceived as gay one of those issues?

Snyder: Again, you have issues where you want to see people have an opportunity to have a career.

Reporter: But when you say "no good reason," is being gay a good reason to be fired?

Snyder: Well again, that's a broad statement, so it'd depend on the particular facts of the situation. That's a hypothetical, that's very general in that context.

Reporter: People are being fired because they're gay though, that's not hypothetical. An employer can do that. That's not a hypothetical situation, that's a real situation...

Snyder: The question is how should government be involved in that process and how active, so again that's where I'm happy to work with the legislature as they're willing to look at those kind of issues.

Reporter: But you're not going to lead on that issue.

Snyder: At this point in time I've got a number of other things that I've had as priorities.

Emily Dievendorf, Equality Michigan's Managing Executive Director told LGBTQ Nation in an email Thursday afternoon:

"While marriage equality is currently before the courts, extending workplace discrimination protections to gay and transgender citizens is a responsibility that falls to the leadership in the legislative and the executive branches of Michigan's government. 

The Governor's own Civil Rights Commission has established that anti-lgbt discrimination is happening in Michigan and is harming both Michigan families and Michigan's economic growth."

Michigan media outlet MLive pointed out that several Michigan municipalities have passed various anti-discrimination ordinances that include gay and transgender people, adding that earlier this week, Delta Township became the 29th local government to do so.

However, the measures have faced opposition from anti-gay groups including Midland-based American Family Association of Michigan, which argued that the policies discriminate against people who don't support homosexuality.

Dievendorf said that her organisation believes that no qualified and hard-working employees should be fired simply because they are gay.  She added that efforts in the state legislature to amend the state's Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act to include LGBT citizens, after 30 years of lobbying are applauded by Equality Michigan and equality activists saying;

"Thanks to legislators on both sides of the aisle progress will be made sooner than later because it is the right thing for Michigan LGBT citizens, the right thing for Michigan businesses, and the right thing for Michigan history. We think Governor Snyder will want to be a part of that."

A Michigan youth activist, Graeme Taylor was even more blunt in his assessment referring to the governor's stance on LGBT policy issues telling LGBTQ Nation; "Snyder is not the guy we need in office for gay rights for sure."

A spokesperson for Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger noted that the speaker and other lawmakers were still having conversations with people on all sides of this issue.

"No one has yet come up with a good answer on how to balance personal liberty with religious freedom," Ari Adler said in an email to MLive Thursday. 

"The positive news is that he has had many conversations with people who agree we need to find a solution together and neither side should demonize the other."

Legislation introduced in the 2009 and later, the 2012 legislative sessions to prohibit employers, landlords and others in Michigan from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity never passed, and there are not similar bills that have been introduced in the 2013 session.

Today's Headlines from LGBTQ Nation Magazine

UN criticized for HIV, human rights event in country that bars entry to gays

Iowa man appeals conviction that he violated HIV transmission law

W.Va. county clerk wins more time to answer same-sex marriage suit

Anti-gay chaplain: Transgender student visually ‘raping’ girls in locker room

Wis. Supreme Court hears challenge to state’s domestic partner registry

Hawaii same-sex marriage ceremonies could start Nov. 18

Transgender woman commits suicide after being fired by Russian employer

Pa. attorney general Kathleen Kane scolds lawmaker seeking impeachment

Teacher wants apology from Catholic school that fired her for marrying partner

Same-sex couple registers out-of-state marriage documents in N.C.

Gay marriage opponents invoke God, free speech at Illinois rally

N.M. Supreme Court hears arguments on legalizing same-sex marriage

Three-time U.S. figure skating champion Johnny Weir retires, joins NBC for Sochi

Anti-gay activist Brian Camenker: Victims of gay bashing had it coming

Texas judge splits from GOP because he can ‘no longer tolerate’ anti-gay party

World News

Russia

Trans Woman Commits Suicide After Employer Sacks Her because of Propaganda Ban

Dasha Stern via VK.com

EKATERINBURG, Russia -- LGBTQ Equality rights activists are alleging that a 22-year-old transgender woman is the first victim of Russia's so-called anti-gay propaganda law. Dasha Stern had committed suicide October 16 after her employer reportedly fired her based on the fear that the firm would be in violation of the national ban on "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships," by employing her.

The Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights reported that Stern had recently been disowned by her parents and kicked out of her home, presumably for being transgender. Stern had also recently been approved for a mortgage and auto loan but was unable to make those payments after she lost her job.  

Prominent Russian Human Rights attorney Masha Bast along with other Russian LGBT activists had held a vigil and rally near the Kremlin in Moscow's Red Square this past Saturday in honour of Stern.

Bast, an openly Bisexual trans woman, told RusAdvocate, the official blog for The Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights;

"Vladimir Putin has created the system where there is no place for transgender, there is no place for dissenters," Bast said. "Dasha Stern is the victim of the indifference of Russian society."

Social Issues

Affordable & LGBT-Friendly Senior Living in Short Supply

Photo courtesy of SAGE

WASHINGTON -- As the baby boomer generation retires and ages, LGBTQ seniors are facing a shortage of affordable and 'safe' retirement living accommodations.

In a recent study by the University of Washington’s Institute for Multigenerational Health, the number of Americans aged 50 and older who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT)—currently estimated at about 2 million—is expected to double by 2030. 

For many LGBTQ seniors whom are older than age 65, their growing up in an era where homosexuality was viewed as a disorder or a psychiatric condition, creates a dynamic reported the Washington Post, where experts note as they get older, many feel less comfortable standing up for themselves, particularly if they are not wealthy, and they are increasingly vulnerable to being pushed back into the closet.

“They came of age and lived through an era when it was particularly dangerous to be out,” Susan Sommer, senior counsel and director of constitutional litigation at Lambda Legal, an LGBT advocacy group, said.

“They risked losing employment, losing family, losing friends, and even violence. They became habituated to a closeted existence.”

Despite increased tolerance for LGBT individuals now in their 50s when they came of age, only around half of the boomer generation believe homosexuality should be accepted by society, according to the Pew Research Center. 

Only 22% of LGBT aging seniors said they felt comfortable being open about their sexual identity in a nursing home or assisted living setting, according to a 2011 survey by LGBT senior advocacy groups, and many feared discrimination from other residents and from staff. More than four in 10 said they had experienced mistreatment at facilities.

Those factors coincide with many LGBT individuals not having children or close family members or friends to rely on, and they in turn become more isolated.

While there are retirement communities that bill themselves as LGBT-friendly, many of them are high-end and are not affordable to the LGBT seniors who earn less on average in retirement than their heterosexual counterparts.

“The existing senior housing that’s out there has not been welcoming to the LGBT community,” Daniel Reingold, president and CEO of the Hebrew Home in Riverdale, N.Y., said. 

“If they [advertise being gay-friendly] in their marketing and bring in 10 or 12 people, is the rest of the world going to turn away? They might.”

Politics

Texas Judge quits GOP in disgust over 'ugly' politics

SAN ANTONIO --- A Bexar County Texas judge announced Monday that he is leaving the Republican party and is switching to the Democratic Party as he starts his reelection campaign.

In a YouTube reelection campaign announcement followed by an appearance with Democratic Party leaders Monday at a press conference, Judge Carlo Key said the GOP is "at war with itself."

“Make no mistake, I did not leave the Republican Party, it left me. My principles have led me to the Democratic Party, and my only hope is that more people of principle will follow me.” Key said. 

"I cannot tolerate a political party that demeans Texans based on their sexual orientation, the color of their skin or their economic status."

He also added, "I will not be a member of a party in which hate speech elevates candidates for higher office rather than disqualifying them,"  a direct reference to former GOP San Antonio councilwoman Elisa Chan, who was recorded earlier this year telling her staffers in a meeting that homosexuality as "disgusting to even think about." 

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa told reporters “in the past few weeks, you've seen the ugly face of the Republican Party that is more interested in taking care of their primary base than in taking care of Americans and Texans,” reported the San Antonio Express News. 

Bexar County Democratic Party Chairman Manuel Medina said two other judges who attended a recent Democratic Party event could also make the switch in the near future, and U.S. Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-San Antonio, said he expects more to follow;

“The Republican Party is catering to such a narrow ideological base,” Castro said, “and many Texans are realizing that the Democratic Party is a better choice."

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