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Most gay senior citizens live in poverty. Most gay senior citizens are NOT welcome to nursing homes or government run facilities. Most gay senior citizens do not have health care. Most gay senior citizens are alone and lonely because they have lost their lovers, friends and peers. MOST SENIOR CITIZENS ARE INVISIBLE TO GAY PEOPLE. Many have gone back into the closet in order to live the rest of their lives in some sort of peace+.
I don't usually talk about or review documentaries but the next time instead of spending money on renting/buying DVDs or ordering a film from netflix that you will forget an hour after you watch it PLEASE GET THE DVD OF "10 More Good Years".
These are the gay people who set the stage for 'domestic partnerships'. These are the people who marched, fought, petitioned, went to prison in order for gay magazines, newspapers and books to be published and distributed--they fought the US Postal service so you could get the Advocate.
They laid the foundation so that Will & Grace, Queer Eye and The L word could be seen on TV and Brokeback Mountain on the TV screen.
These are the lesbians who were at the forefront of running to help the gay men with AIDS by setting up health centers. These are the people who started organizations like The Radical Fairies, The Mattachine Society, The Perpetual Nuns so that those who wanted to get married in California this week could.
These are the same people who are alone and lonely, cast aside just because they are old and, in most cases, poor.
For those of you in your 20s an 30s study the history of gay people from the 1930s and on who have done so much for you so you could live the life you are living today. For those in your 40s who can stand out and proud today acknowledge the debt you owe them. For those of you in your 50s let them now you are grateful for their rebellion at Stonewall just when you were reaching maturity.
NO, gay senior citizens don't want to jump your bones just because you are 20, 30 or 40--they want you to listen to them and their "When I was your age.." stories. They want you to know that before you know it you will and can be in their situation--alone and lonely having lost your partner, your family and your finances--it can happen to any of you!!!
If you live where there is a gay community center go and spend time with a gay senior citizen--take them out for a cup of coffee and some conversation. Instead of buying yourself a $5 latte at Starbucks get them a box of tea which will bring them many hours of enjoyment. You rent a DVD ask them over to watch it with you.
Yes YOU OWE THEM for what they have done in the past so you could have what you have today. They are poor and living on what little social security they get because all they were concerned with was marching, petitioning, striking, having sit ins, etc., and just working enough to have a roof over their heads and food in their stomach. They were more interested in fighting for a cause--your cause--then accumulating wealth and, consequently, they are suffering today.
Those in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s are part of another GREAT generation and you in your 40s and 50s should know what THEY sacrificed for YOU--those in 20s and 30s owe it to yourself to read their histories--all deserve to acknowledge them.
PLEASE RENT AND WATCH "10 MORE GOOD YEARS" FOR YOUR OWN EDIFICATION---YOU WILL BE IN THEIR AGE BRACKET BEFORE YOU KNOW IT AND MIGHT, WILL PROBABLY, FACE THE SAME SITUATIONS THEY ARE. I know you don't see yourself at 70 or older but you will be.
An aside--it is worth watching to see the twinkle in the eye of one man who says he was kicked out of the service as undesirable but they wrong because, "I was always desirable!" :O)
It seems you never hear as much about gay senior citizens in the same way that you hear about other pioneers who have fought long and hard for equal rights. They deserve to be recognized . Although it's sad to think that for as far as society has come, we're still not there yet. Otherwise, gay marriage wouldn't still be an issue up for debate.
Equal rights means more than marital rights. Although the rights to marriage need to be fought for, it's equal rights that will cover marriage and all other issues where rights are now being denied or compromised. If things don't change soon, Edie and I are facing possible forced separation if we need to go into elderly/senior citizen housing because some do not allow "strangers" to co-habitate. The only way we could live together in the same place is if we each get our own apartment. That's just one example if inequality, plus the fact that we are still forbidden to marry in this state...yet, I'm no less a citizen, no less an American than anybody living in California. Even that alone is an insult...it's discrimination on top of discrimination.