With all the noise in Washington, it may be easy to miss the Trump administration’s efforts to harm older LGBT older people: but make no mistake, there has been a dangerous assault on the rights of our LGBT pioneers.
The administration is working to chip away at hard-fought protections for the LGBT community, and it has sought to make our LGBT elders, and the LGBT community at large, virtually invisible.
Let’s start with an example. You’ve probably heard of a program called Meals on Wheels. It’s one of the many programs funded in-part by a federal law called the Older Americans Act (OAA). The OAA helps pay for many programs and services that allow older adults to age in place in their communities – programs like chore assistance, transportation assistance, legal assistance, home delivered meals, and meals at senior centers.
In order for the federal government to know if these programs are reaching the most vulnerable people, it conducts a survey every year (the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants). Back in 2014, the Obama administration added an LGBT question to the survey to be able to see if LGBT older adults were receiving the programs and services they need to remain independent. When the survey came to President Trump’s attention, the only change he proposed was to strip out the LGBT demographic question. SAGE, our allies, and LGBT older adults led the fight in pushing back, and in a partial victory, the administration retained the sexual orientation question, but left out transgender older adults.
That is just one example. In March of 2018, the administration again tried to make LGBT people invisible, by erasing the lesbian and bisexual women’s health pages from the website of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). SAGE, and other LGBT organizations, responded.
Right after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Piggie Park, a BBQ joint in South Carolina, refused to serve a woman by the name of Anne Newman. Why? The owner said his religious beliefs compelled him to oppose any integration of races, and that being forced to open his doors and serve everyone violated his freedom of religion. What happened? He lost. The court said religion couldn’t trump civil rights.
Now, in 2018, a similar case known as Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission has come before the Supreme Court. In the case, the Trump administration is trying to turn the clock back to the 1960s, using religion as a way to divide the country. In the case, the Trump administration is arguing that a baker’s religious beliefs create a constitutional right to refuse to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple. A ruling that gives businesses a license to discriminate based on religious preference would have especially devastating consequences for older LGBT people, as many elder care providers, including hospitals, have a religious affiliation. Earlier this year, the Trump administration also established the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division at the Department of Health & Human Services to shield medical providers who deny care based on religious or moral beliefs.
According to Dignity Denied, a policy report released by SAGE, the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), and Columbia Law School’s Public Rights/Private Conscience Project, 85 percent of nonprofit continuing care retirement communities are religiously affiliated. If, like the Piggie Park, these retirement communities seek to deny access to LGBT older adults, our elders will suffer greatly.
In advance of the Supreme Court ruling, SAGE recently launched its “Care Can’t Wait” campaign, which shines a spotlight on the millions of LGBT elders whose care and livelihoods would be threatened by a license to discriminate. The campaign asks care providers, people of faith, and all who believe in caring for our community members, to take a pledge to stand with LGBT elders in the face of religious discrimination. The pledge is online at sageusa.org/carecantwait.
As we enter into Pride month, let’s all make sure our LGBT elders are part of this conversation. We need more, not less, attention to be paid to the challenges that LGBT older adults are facing. We must continue to call on the Trump administration to prioritize LGBT rights, particularly for our elders, because older adults refuse to be bullied and they refuse to be invisible.
Aaron Tax is director of advocacy at SAGE, the country’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT older people. Learn more at sageusa.org.