Even now, at 81 and with her memory beginning to fade, Gloria Donadello recalls her painful brush with bigotry at an assisted-living center in Santa Fe, N.M. Sitting with those she considered friends, “people were laughing and making certain kinds of comments, and I told them, ‘Please don’t do that, because I’m gay.’”
Mines too. First that horrible business in the Congo and now this. Why do you insist on depressing me first thing in the morning? Kidding, thanks for the info. I have friends that work in the assisted living field, I'm passing this article along to them. This shit has got to get better before I'm old and aged. *knocks on wood*
sorry, i just wake up every morn and read the headlines and of course it is NOTHING but bad news!
seriously though, i think i may have to open my OWN gay/lesbian friendly nursing home - doesn't that just sound like a lot of fun??? we could dress the old queens up and have drag shows every day! it would be FABULOUS!
hahah that would be fabulous. I'll do it with you. we can be partners, in san fran!!! yesssssssss...
But, i had no idea this was even happening. that picture of the man feeding his partner ripped my heart out. I wonder if there are incidences like that around here.. i should check all the nursing homes and go visit the gays!
I just emailed the president of the LGBT community center in norwalk to see if there is a group or something already doing this... and if not, if i can start one. so i hope he writes back!
I'm glad this sort of thing seems to be disappearing. I was having lunch with a bunch of single guys in their 20s. The conversation was about dating and someone asked the only gay man at the table if he had the same kinds of dating problems.
What struck me was that the tone of the question reminded me of a question someone had put to a vegetarian in another conversation a few days earlier. A different group had been discussing a new restaurant and someone asked the vegetarian if she thought there were enough meatless choices.
Both questions were about the practical implications of a different lifestyle. The questions were judgmental but (and I think this is more important) they weren't studiously non-judgmental.
Anyone who is any kind of minority knows what I am talking about: those Gee-what-is-it-like being gay/black/immigrant/whatever questions. They're (usually) well-meant but they are more about establishing the asker as a Decent Open-minded Person, rather than about any sort of communication.
This one datapoint suggests that Official Acceptance is being replaced with actual acceptance, which is good.
those are some excellent points! i hope that you are right that "actual" acceptance is happening now. i know that it is true for people from my generation so hopefully it actually is becoming a reality.
i like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to the next. this is the night, what it does to you. i had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion - jack kerouac
Comments
seriously though, i think i may have to open my OWN gay/lesbian friendly nursing home - doesn't that just sound like a lot of fun??? we could dress the old queens up and have drag shows every day! it would be FABULOUS!
But, i had no idea this was even happening. that picture of the man feeding his partner ripped my heart out. I wonder if there are incidences like that around here.. i should check all the nursing homes and go visit the gays!
What struck me was that the tone of the question reminded me of a question someone had put to a vegetarian in another conversation a few days earlier. A different group had been discussing a new restaurant and someone asked the vegetarian if she thought there were enough meatless choices.
Both questions were about the practical implications of a different lifestyle. The questions were judgmental but (and I think this is more important) they weren't studiously non-judgmental.
Anyone who is any kind of minority knows what I am talking about: those Gee-what-is-it-like being gay/black/immigrant/whatever questions. They're (usually) well-meant but they are more about establishing the asker as a Decent Open-minded Person, rather than about any sort of communication.
This one datapoint suggests that Official Acceptance is being replaced with actual acceptance, which is good.