December 20, 2011
September 22, 2011
Older Gays Have Higher Risk of Loneliness | advocate.com
A recent study by U.K. gay rights group Stonewall indicates that aging gay men and women have a greater risk of loneliness than do heterosexuals, London’s Observerreports.
The YouGov survey commissioned by Stonewall questioned 1,050 heterosexual and 1,036 lesbian, gay, and bisexual people over the age of 55, and found that LGB people are more likely to be single and see their families less frequently than straights. While a little over a quarter of older gay or bisexual men and half of lesbian or bisexual women have children, nearly nine out of 10 heterosexual people have children.
Previous studies have indicated that loneliness in old age is associated with depression and poor health.
“This pioneering research confirms what we already knew intuitively, that there are hundreds of thousands of lesbian and gay people growing older without the same family and support structures that many straight people enjoy,” said Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall. “Quite often, that’s because their own families have disowned them just because of the way they were born.”
The study also found that gay and bisexual men are three times as likely as heterosexual men to live alone when they are older and that older LGB people are more likely to depend on formal support services as opposed to family and friends.
Despite the concerns, many say they feel uncomfortable admitting their sexuality to public health and support workers: Three of five LGP people questioned said social services and housing facilities could not meet their needs, while half said they would feel uncomfortable coming out to staff from those services.
“For the first time this generation of aging gay people fully expects to be treated with respect by both public and commercial service providers,” said Summerskill.
The research provides further evidence that LGB people are more anxious about aging than heterosexuals.
(via fuckyeahbisexuals)
November 30, 2009
World HIV/AIDS Day
In honour of World HIV/AIDS day I am taking a link a friend (@standupguy) has shared with me so that others can learn more about it. You think you know it all? Think again there’s always more to know.
November 23, 2009
Sleeves are the new hands!
October 15, 2009
OMG: Why Queers Should Support US Healthcare Reform
Besides the obvious fact that Healthcare Reform is morally the right thing to do Queer people need understand that it is in their best interest to get behind the overhaul.
As it stands right now in the U.S. many same-sex partners do not have the same rights and benefits as their heterosexual counterparts. This means they are not granted health insurance coverage (either through work or their individual plans) that would cover their partner (even if they are in a civil union/domestic partnership and, in some rare cases, marriage). So while 1 person in the couple may have coverage up the wazoo the other doesn’t have access to any of it for the simple fact that they are of the same gender. Meanwhile Sarah’s husband is entitled to the same coverage that she has with the same plan.
With the overhaul of the system people won’t have to be paying thousands of dollars extra for more coverage or some sort of crazy plan (see The Cost of Being Gay). In Canada for instance (let’s assume Queer people don’t have complete equal rights there for a second) one would never need to worry about their insurance company not covering their partner’s medical expenses because it has universal healthcare. Oh and by the way it’s no where near as bad as CNN makes it out to be. Yes you may have to wait a few months for knee replacement surgery or other non life threatening surgeries like that but in general you are treated quickly. We have hospitals that are among the best in the world (hell one of our Hospitals was responsible to decoding the the DNA for malignant breast cancer just a few days ago). The healthcare system in Canada has consistantly been ranked higher than the U.S. by the United Nations and Canada has a lower infant mortality rate, a higher cancer survival rate, and higher life expectancy rate than the United States.
In addition to benefiting same-sex couple by providing coverage healthcare reform would be greatly beneficial to those people with HIV/AIDS. Medical expenses often become to much for people to handle and they end up tens of thousands of dollars in debt. If their insurance at work doesn’t provide coverage for them the only options are to pay out of pocket or go on social assistance to receive coverage. People lose their cars, homes, and are left scraping by simply because they do not insurance that covers them. Healthcare reform can ensure that this doesn’t continue to happen.
There is no reason why Queer people should be forced to pay more for healthcare and without healthcare reform we’re not going to see a change with this any time soon.
Please write to your Congressman/woman, Senator, and tell your friends and family why healthcare reform is needed, especially for the Queer community.
Slainte!
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