Survey for Older LGBTQ+ Americans
There is a new groundbreaking survey for older LGBTQ+ Americans that is looking for participants over 50 years old.
SAGE is the world’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ+ elders. SAGE works to accommodate, and care for this commonly underrepresented demographic. They provide meaningful resources, such as housing initiatives, HIV and AIDS policy action, advocacy, and more ensuring a good quality of life can be sustained through the aging process of LGBTQ+ people.
When asked about SAGE’s significance, Elise Hernandez, Director of Research and Impact at SAGE, says “There just isn’t another SAGE in this country. An organization that really works on behalf of and serves LGBTQ+ older folks in the many ways that we do from, being able to actually provide services, and care management in New York City, to be able to provide some financial empowerment through SAGE.”
SAGE began in 1978 in New York Cityl, and has greatly evolved into the safe haven it is. Elise shared that the non-profit originated when “both younger and older folks who saw that, you know, their, their friends, their peers, people in their community just didn’t have folks to care for them.” So they decided to come together, and create a space for people to gether. It started as a very grassroots projects consisting of mostly volunteers, and then over the years it became something that was more institutionalized when it became a nonprofit. And I think, as the folks who worked at SAGE began to see what the needs were because they were in space and community with them, they started to build programs and services around those needs.”
SAGE has formulated a survey in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Public Health, intending to gauge the strengths and needs of older LGBTQ+ Americans. The survey covers a wide variety of topics on the well-being of this demographic including healthcare, companionship, care plans for aging, and more. The results of this informational survey will allow SAGE to understand the best ways to continue to support this community going forward.
When asked about the survey, Elise says “We’re going to try to do something that can really get the pulse of what’s going on with LGBTQ+ plus older people in this country and to be able to do that every other year. So this is a survey that’s just gathering a lot of information from LGBTQ+ older folks who are 50+ about their well-being, social lives, experiences with discrimination, and about their experiences with other programs, and services that are tailored towards them. They’re feeling affected by a lot of the policies that are being enacted across the country, especially when it comes to trans folks, so the idea is that once we get this data back we’ll be have a good sense of what are the needs, what are the experiences but most importantly, what are the strengths of LGBTQ+ older people so that we can plan as an organization. More importantly, we can share this information with the field and back to older folks to see what you make of this, what would you do with this information and how we can?”
This survey is not only significant in both gauging the needs of older LGBTQ+ Americans and in addressing their needs going forward. This data will be used on a government level “to substantiate our demands essentially for more funding and policy changes and for folks to do the type of training that SAGE Care offers”, Elise says. This holds extra relevance in that the survey will be done every two years, so the information and resources can change alongside the needs of older LGBTQ+ Americans.
SAGE is looking for participants from all over the country to get the most accurate and meaningful data. They specifically are looking for communities that are commonly underrepresented in research. They hope to find queer people over 50 years old who are BIPOC, transgender, gender non-conforming, people with disabilities, and those who live in rural areas will take the survey so their voices are heard. Elise emphasizes this by saying, “We’re really ramping up outreach efforts to make sure that we get data from these communities because we want to be able to share their experiences as well, to see if there are disparities that we need to address which we suspect that there are but the data will help with that.”
SAGE has done incredible work for the older LGBTQ+ community for decades. This survey will allow them to further understand, and address the needs of this community alongside statistical evidence to help them advocate for beneficial policy. They are looking for participants who are LGBTQ+ people over 50 to take the survey before the end of February. The survey can be completed either online or over the phone, and should take just 30 minutes to complete. Have your voice heard, and your community’s needs addressed by signing up for the survey through the link below.
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