Why a White-Led LGBTQ+ Org and a POC-Led Queer Group Are Teaming Up
SAGE, the world’s oldest and largest LGBTQ+ elder advocacy and services organization, has a white CEO and historically has had predominantly white leadership.
GRIOT Circle, the only staffed organization in the U.S. exclusively focused on LGBTQ+ elders of color, is led by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) leadership and a BIPOC CEO.In our respective work, we constantly see the disparities in resources and outcomes for marginalized groups.
Older adults of color, especially those who are LGBTQ+, are much more likely to live in poverty than straight, cisgender, white older Americans.
In addition, BIPOC older Americans are two to three times more likely to have contracted COVID and died than older Americans in general.Older LGBTQ+ people of color, whose numbers are growing faster than the overall increase in LGBTQ+ elders, face multiple layers of discrimination and marginalization.
