What would you do if you were old, disabled or ill - and the person feeding you put down the spoon

[sheshe2]

Last edited Wed Dec 3, 2014, 08:55 PM - Edit history (1)

What would you do if you were old, disabled or ill - and the person feeding you put down the spoon and said that you are going to hell unless you change your sexual preference?

Sound absurd?

Social workers around the world say it’s happening every day.

Gen Silent is the critically-acclaimed documentary from filmmaker Stu Maddux
(Bob and Jack's 52-Year Adventure,
Trip to Hell and Back) that asks six LGBT seniors if they will hide their friends, their spouses- their entire lives in order to survive in the care system.

Their surprising decisions are captured through intimate access to their day-to-day lives over the course of a year. It puts a face on what experts in the film call an epidemic: gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender older people so afraid of discrimination by caregivers or bullying by other seniors that many simply go back into the closet.

Many who won the first civil rights victories for generations to come are now dying prematurely because they are reluctant to ask for help and have too few friends or family to care for them.

snip


As we watch the challenges that these men and women face, we are offered new hope as each person crosses paths with impassioned people trying to change LGBT aging for the better.

http://stumaddux.com/gen_silent_about.html

[link:http://stumaddux.com/gen_silent_about.html|Read More
]

[RufusTFirefly]

1. K & R! n/t

[truedelphi]

2. As an elder and disabled home care giver back in the 1990's,

I was the one the agency called when they had a patient of either sex who was sick and/or dying of AIDS.

I could never figure out why there was so much fear about being in a home with someone with AIDS. The amount of appreciation that the client had for anyone who entered their life was boundless.

And they were totally aware of what they needed to do to prevent any chance of the care giver getting sick. While my other clients would frequently cough all over me, I didn't have any worries that would happen with an AIDS patient.

It never occurred to me that my co-workers refusing these jobs could be from their disdain for people with an alternate sexual lifestyle. I guess I really am naive on some levels about some things.

[Enthusiast]

5. But not on many levels or about many things.

[sheshe2]

6. Thank you for responding to the thread.

Thank you for all that you have done to help ease the suffering of those sick and dying, truedelphi. You did it without judgement. You treated them all with respect.

[proReality]

3. K&R n/t

[sheshe2]

4. Wait What!?

I thank you one and all for your rec's. Yet no responses?

There is this too... Thank You Boston!

http://www.lgbtagingproject.org/2014/07/21/lgbt-aging-commission-survey/

Where are all you true progressives on DU? You know the ones that tell us that the rest of us are just centrists. Yup! The ones that say Obama sucks.

If this was a thread about straight people aging this would be at the top of the page with 300 responses and about the same number of rec's. However it is not. It is about an aging GLBT nation, some with aids and some just getting old. They are willing to give up all they have fought for for so many years to get the humanity and dignity that they deserve in the days they have left. They are willing to go back into that closet, for some compassionate care.

I am an ally, I will never be asked this question, will you?

What would you do if you were old, disabled or ill - and the person feeding you put down the spoon and said that you are going to hell unless you change your sexual preference?

And before I get judged for not knowing the reality of nursing home care. I have spent the last 3 years visiting my dad there. He is dying a little bit everyday, more rapidly now, yet he is still being treated with respect.

The video made me cry.

Love is Love....no one should be treated with disrespect for who they love.

[Enthusiast]

7. There are some sick fucks out there. I don't mean the old, disabled and ill.

[sheshe2]

8. Yes, sadly I know just who you mean.

The hate is unrelenting sometimes, Enthusiast.

[daleanime]

9. Another thing that should never happen.....

why do some people feel entitled to judge others?

[markpkessinger]

10. That's why . . .

. . . I hope we begin to see a lot more stories like this one, from Philadelphia early this year:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9876890

(about a low-income, assisted living facility for LGBT folks that opened in center city last year).

[sheshe2]

11. Thanks for posting that Mark!

Yes, we do need more of these stories.

[TygrBright]

12. I will give the Little Sisters of the Poor in St. Paul credit where it is due:

When my Uncle Joe lived under their care for the last few years of his life, they made no issue whatsoever of his being gay.

They did try to get him to go to Mass now and then, though. But didn't make a big deal of it when he wouldn't.

And they were kind, caring, respectful, and competent throughout.

I can't imagine anyone who believes "compassion" involves extorting helpless individuals to comply with their own belief system being acceptable as a caregiver. I just can't. They should go into another field of endeavor.

gobsmackedly, <---4 syllables
Bright

[sheshe2]

13. Please~

[sheshe2]

14. ...

[freshwest]

15. Kicking a bit late. Those who ignore this because it's LGBT may not know it happens to others, too.

IOW, they may be next. Let down any group, and all of us will be let down. Sorry you didn't get more replies, sweetie. I'll keep trying to kick it for more coverage.

[sheshe2]

17. Thank you freshwest.

[Tsiyu]

16. Look at all the lonely people

make some good friends in this life, for sure, if you can


how rotten a life's end for these pioneers