LGBTQ Activism: Try it! You'll Like It.
I have been activist since I was 2! I tore the arms and legs off of my dolls to use them as a football. No one would give me a football because I was a girl. I didn’t become an LGBTQ activist until I was 60 – when the organizers of the Israel Day parade wouldn’t let CBST march because of our sexual orientation!
I am always happy to be called on to speak about things I know about. It is particularly nice when I am asked to advocate for something I feel deeply about.
Such was the case this past January 24th when I responded to a call from SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Seniors) to speak to the NY City Council Committee on Aging about the need for cultural competence in health care for the LGBTQ community.
I went as a spokesperson for SAGE and for the CBST/Koleinu Health Care/Elder Care Action Team. Koleinu had just completed a survey on the problems our members face in accessing the health care system - for primary care, adoption needs, nursing homes - the full span of our families health needs. The Team had also begun dialogue with Jewish Home Lifecare on the need for culturally competent treatment of our older population who need assisted living and/or nursing home care.
I am not a numbers person. I understand them - somewhat - but rarely, if ever cite them. I prefer to put a human face (mine) at the beginning of whatever testimony I give. And so, I introduce myself as who I am, a 77 year-old, formerly married, lesbian mother and grandmother, who is also a 4th degree black belt in a Japanese style of karate. I also tell my medical providers about my karate status, as that will help them treat my medical concerns, not my age. I tell them about my sexual orientation, as that will - or should - give them guidance about questions to ask me, yes, even at age 77, about my sexual activity and partners.
I told the City Council about my FTM trans friends who were without a “safe” medical provider now that St. Vincent’s Hospital was closed and who hesitated to seek medical care because of fear of harassment. I told them about my gay friends over 50, who survived the AIDS crises of the 80’s, only to face ridicule as a survivor in 2011. Quoting from our Koleinu survey, I advocated the need for revise hospital forms, to ask about sexual orientation, gender identity and significant others, who were not husbands and wives, and a way to say “partnered” instead of married or not.
The most interesting part of testifying was the barrage of questions that came from the Council members - “Why change the forms?” “Why change the pictures?” How do we get LGBTQs to fill out forms asking for their identity (I proposed a campaign like the one for the census); how to get the trans community to get the health screenings they need for their past and present identities? (I later found out this is a major insurance issue).
The answers: We need to gather more information - especially about the trans community and insurance barriers they face; more of us need to go before Council committees (Health is next) and to the State legislature, where insurance is regulated. More of us need to prepare ourselves to tell our stories in 2 or 3 minutes, to put a human face on the need for culturally competent health care for our community.
Come on down! Get trained! You will enjoy it.
