Older LGBT San Fran residents face challenges

San Francisco (Photo by Jon Zander via wikimedia commons)

SAN FRANCISCO — And in other San Francisco news, a new report there found that elderly LGBT residents are more likely to be living in poverty, single, childless, renters and living with HIV than their counterparts in other cities, the Bay Area Reporter reported last week. Most have also experienced the death of a partner, the paper said.

The report, “LGBT Older Adults in San Francisco: Health, Risks and Resilience” by Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen at the University of Washington, was federally financed and was developed with help from San Francisco’s LGBT Aging Policy Task Force to address the needs of LGBT seniors there.

The news wasn’t all bad — nearly all LGBT seniors surveyed have some form of health care coverage and most consider themselves to be in good health. About 81 percent regularly see a doctor, the article said.

The report found that 41 percent of the participants had “seriously considered” suicide, 62 percent lacked companionship and 58 percent felt isolated. One-quarter were not out to their neighbors, the Reporter noted.

In terms of employment discrimination, 31 percent said they had not been hired for a job due to being LGBT, 29 percent were denied a job promotion and 21 percent said they were fired.

The report is available online at sf-hrc.org.