'Open Door' spells freedom for gay senior citizens
by Brian Byrnes, CNN May 18, 2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina (CNN) -- Despite what has traditionally been regarded as a macho culture, Argentina has been viewed in recent years as a leader on gay rights issues in Latin America. During the past year Argentina has also taken steps to assist an often overlooked sector of the world's gay population: senior citizens. Situated behind the tall, wooden doors of a century-old building in Buenos Aires, the Puerta Abierta ("Open Door") center is Latin America's first community center for gay senior citizens.

  Sex, Romance, and Relationships: AARP Survey of Midlife and Older Adults
by: Linda Fisher, AARP Knowledge Management, May 2010
AARP commissioned a survey on sexual attitudes and practices among the 45+ population in August 2009, similar to earlier surveys conducted in 1999 and 2004. Results show that the sexual revolution continues in the older population as Boomers continue to age.

• 8% of men and 2% of women have a same-sex partner.
• 29% of men want their partners to initiate sex more often.
• 20% of men have oral sex at least once a week.
• 45% of men think of sex at least once a day.
• 64% have never discussed their sexual fantasies with their partners.
• 73% of men in their 50s say they have an orgasm every time they have sex.

  Addressing the Needs of Gay Seniors
by Steve Weinstein, EDGE Editor-In-Chief, Tuesday May 4, 2010
After years of being ignored, gay seniors are getting a hearing at last. On Wednesday, April 28, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) joined experts in geriatrics to discuss new legislation to meet the unique needs of older LGBT Americans.

  It's About Time
IN THE LIFE explores what it means to grow old as a gay person in America - how a generation once at the frontlines of establishing the modern LGBT movement finds, in what should be their golden years, new challenges living life openly gay. IT'S ABOUT TIME highlights the leaders spearheading a national effort to protect the rights of LGBT senior citizens and care for our elders.

  The Graying of Gay America
by Matt Comer April 17, 2010
It’s the graying of America. Millions of Baby Boomers, folks as young as 50 or older, are retiring. They’re living longer than their fathers and mothers. They’re still healthy, active and involved .LGBT Baby Boomers are having intense debates about the same issues facing their straight peers. Their concerns for the future, and especially for equitable treatment and care, are increasingly getting respect and consideration from national groups like the AARP and local groups as well.

  Sonoma Co. Separates Elderly Gay Couple, Auctions Their Possessions
By Rod McCullom, Rod 2.0
Seventy-seven-year-old Clay and his 88-year-old partner Harold lived in Sonoma County, California and had been together 20 years. Although they had wills, powers of attorney and medical directives, none of that mattered once Harold was hospitalized. County and health care workers refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes. Ignoring Clay’s significant role in Harold’s life, the county continued to treat Harold like he had no family and went to court seeking the power to make financial decisions on his behalf. Then without authority..the county took everything Harold and Clay owned and auctioned off all of their belongings.

  The lot of the LGBT elder
By Leslie Robinson April 17, 2010
As if arthritis and profuse nose hair weren’t enough. Aging is already loaded with physical and emotional challenges. Now we hear that LGBT elders face a distinct set of burdens in addition. It gives growing old all the appeal of a colostomy bag. Called the first major collaboration between LGBT groups and mainstream organizations for the elderly, a report called “Improving the Lives of LGBT Older Adults” lays out the problems LGBT seniors face and offers recommendations.

  Back into the closet: gays find few friends in aged care
By Jessica MAHAR April 17, 2010, Sydney Morning Herald
David Urquhart would rather ''swing from the ginkgo tree in the back yard'' than go into a nursing home. The scant acknowledgment of the need for gay-friendly aged-care services worries the 71-year-old photographer, who says he is scared about what the future holds for him. Mr Urquhart lost touch with his family after he came out in 1968, and, without a partner, he wonders what will happen to him if he needs to be cared for or to give someone power of attorney.''Sometimes my mind does run to those things,'' he said. ''I think, here I am on my own, who would I turn to?''He wants to see anti-homophobia training in aged-care services, and advocacy services for gay seniors.

  Obama gives gay partners equal healthcare rights
By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • April 16, 2010 - 14:10
US President Barack Obama has ordered almost all hospitals to give gay partners equal rights in visiting and making decisions for their loved ones. He has instructed his Health and Human Services secretary to draft rules requiring all hospitals which receive Medicare and Medicaid payments to give patients to the right to choose who can visit them and make decisions for them if they are unable to. This means that gay couples can be treated in the same way as a husband and wife at such hospitals.

  Palm Springs Considers Senior Home Next to Gay Nude Resort
By Advocate.com Editors, March 23, 2010
The Palm Springs Architectural Advisory Committee recommended plans Monday to build an assisted living facility next door to the Canyon Club Hotel, one of the Southern California city's gay-owned and -operated clothing-optional resorts.According to the Mercury-News,developers with Tappan Enterprises say they hope to break ground this year on the 190-bed facility. The building will include a public beauty parlor and day spa.

  Gay seniors face futures that include discrimination
By Reid Forgravem, DesMoines Register, March 16, 2010
Dr. Loren Olson nervously clutches a lectern at Des Moines University. It's lunchtime at the osteopathic medicine school, and students filter into the lecture hall to listen to Olson talk about a book he's writing. The 66-year-old could almost be a grandfather to these students: sweater vest and thinning white hair, ample belly and friendly laugh. The book's title is scrawled behind him: "Finally Out: Unlocking the Closet in Mid-life and Beyond." It's filled with psychiatric research on mature gay men who come out later in life, a subject Olson - a semi-retired psychiatrist who lives on a farm near St. Charles - knows plenty about. The members of this group are increasingly visible, but their situation is vastly different than that of younger gays. Gay seniors, after all, didn't grow up in a society at all accepting of homosexuality, and some who have been out for decades are now encountering discrimination when they move into nursing homes.

  A booklet for the ages
By Andie Noonan, Sydney Star Observer, Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Getting older often presents health complications, but for people ageing with HIV there is now some help at hand. A new booklet, Ahead of Time: A Practical Guide for Growing Older with HIV, has been released by the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) this month to give some timely advice on the complex medical issues older people living with HIV face. The booklet lists service care providers aware of the issues, along with easy-to-read information about new medical and social challenges and the best ways to maintain ongoing health.

  Aging issues can be tougher on gays
By Tom Watkins, CNN, March 17, 2010
Last Christmas, Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. Dennis Engelhard was putting flares near a minor accident on a snowy road in Eureka when he was hit by a car and killed.

"I'd had a premonition about it," said Kelly Glossip, 43, Engelhard's domestic partner of 15 years. The openly gay couple had discussed what might happen if Engelhard were to die in Missouri, a state that does not recognize same-sex partnerships, he said.

"He had faith in the system and told me not to worry about it," Glossip said from his home in suburban St. Louis. But now Glossip, who works only part time in a billing office because of back problems and who supports his 17-year-old son, is worried and angry. The state would have given a pension to the wife of any officer killed on the job but has no such provision for domestic partners, Glossip said. "I'm basically on my own," he said.

  Seniors in the Spotlight
By Karen Taylor, Metro Weekly, March 18, 2010
It's been another big news week for LGBT aging. An Associated Press story released Monday on coming out late in life; the SAGE/Movement Advancement Project report entitled "Improving the Lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Older Adults"; and a significant LGBT presence at the National Council on Aging/American Society on Aging's annual conference -- the largest conference of aging professionals and policymakers in the country. There's a reason for this attention. Our nation is aging, and the LGBT community is aging along with it. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force estimates that between now and the height of the aging boom, there will be between 2 and 7 million LGBT older adults in the United States.

  Medicaid and Social Security changes urged to help gay seniors
By Rex W. Huppke, LA Times, March 17, 2010,
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender senior citizens face myriad social and financial problems, and lawmakers could help them by altering Social Security and Medicaid rules, according to a national report being released Wednesday.

The report, prepared by Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders, or SAGE, has been endorsed by major mainstream aging groups, including AARP and the American Society on Aging.

It calls on federal and state lawmakers to consider ways to legally recognize same-sex relationships so aging partners in a committed relationship can have access to the same support systems that benefit heterosexual seniors. That would include Social Security survivor benefits and the rights of same-sex partners to make medical decisions for each other.

  Gay seniors come out late, start second lifetime
By Matt Sedensky
Increased awareness and acceptance of varied sexualities and gender identities has led Americans to come out far younger, as early as middle school. A less noticed but parallel shift is happening at the other end of the age spectrum, with people in their 60s, 70s and 80s coming to terms with the truth that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

While no one tracks the numbers of the elderly who come out, those who work with older adults say the trend is undeniable, and a resulting network of support groups and services has cropped up.

Outing yourself late in life can be complicated after having lived through times when being openly gay could get you arrested, put in an institution and given shock treatments. It's snarled in a lifetime of trudging along through society's view of normalcy and the resulting fear of being ostracized by children and grandchildren. And it's marked by a nagging doubt that all the heartache, all the potential for it to go wrong, may not be worth it with one's years numbered.

  Sex life linked to elderly health
“If you want good sex, you better get down the gym and tuck into your fruit and veg,” says the Daily Mirror. The newspaper reports that a “big-bang theory” has found a link between sexual activity and general health.

The news is based on two US surveys that looked at more than 6,000 people aged 25 to 85. It found that a satisfactory sex life is positively associated with health in middle age and later life. It also noted that between the ages of 75 to 85, 39% of men were sexually active compared to just 17% of women.

  Demand for Gay Retirement Communities on the Rise
By Sarah Whyte, Sydney Morning Herald, February 21, 2010
According to reports by the US Census Bureau, there are an estimated three million gay and lesbian seniors currently living in the United States. Figures from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force indicate that this number is expected to more than double over the next 25 years as the "gayby boom" generation fully transitions into retirement. Because many gay seniors find traditional retirement communities unprepared or unwilling to meet the needs of GLBT residents, the demand for gay retirement communities is stronger than ever.

In response to this growing need, Out Properties is proud to announce that lots in their new gay retirement development, Marigold Creek, are now available for advanced purchase. Located on 32 acres just outside of Phoenix, this upscale, retirement resort for gays, lesbians and their friends and family, is raising the bar on Arizona retirement communities.

  Sexy seniors need to play it safe
By Sarah Whyte, Sydney Morning Herald, February 21, 2010
SAFE-SEX workshops should be held in aged-care facilities and staff trained to manage promiscuous behaviour as a sexual revolution breaks out among the elderly, experts say.

Health and aged-care professionals report a jump in the number of over-65s leading an active sex life, including having multiple partners. ''We are experiencing an awareness of sexual relations in later life that has not been previously seen,'' University of New England faculty dean, Professor Victor Minichiello, said.

''Increasingly, the younger cohort of older people who are moving into retirement villages are healthy, in relationships, or able to develop new relationships,'' Professor Minichiello said. Council on the Ageing and aged-care associations are calling for ''safe sex'' workshops and guideline policies to be implemented in aged-care and retirement facilities to help staff.