Advancements in medical science have added years to our lives.
With them come complex health, financial, social and cultural challenges. In this issue, we will attempt to address lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) aging. LGBT seniors, like their heterosexual counterparts, seek to maintain quality of life allow- ing them to live their final years with dignity, in secure and friendly communities. That said, our brothers and sisters encounter issues specific to their communities—a growing realization being ad- dressed with an increasing sense of urgency nationwide. San Diego Human Dignity Foundation’s (SDHDF) “Aging with
Dignity” initiative is a bold step joining a national movement to stand beside our LGBT seniors just as they stood beside us in the fight for fairness in HIV AIDS treatment, against “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT), “The Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA), the abandon- ment and abuse of our LGBT youth and the civil and legal protec- tions and rights of human dignity that all citizens deserve. This initiative impresses upon us the debt owed our senior warriors, that they deserve the same freedom and dignity they fought and sacrificed for, so that we might experience a better future; we can not ignore our seniors as they age, we must give them the dignity, respect and care they have earned and richly deserve. I spoke with SDHDF Executive Director Tony Freeman about the
Foundation and the formidable task of the “Aging with Dignity” initiative and share with you that discussion and the thoughts of several community leaders. Consider the reality as you read this, that we all will eventually become a member of this senior com- munity. Ask yourself if not now, then when? If not you or I, then who should take up the fight to create a world where we can age with dignity?
Tony, how did the foundation begin and how has it served the community over its 15-year history? The San Diego Human Dignity Foundation was established in 1996 with a gift of $32,000 from the estate of the late Lincoln Aston and has grown to become the third-largest LGBT community foundation in the U.S., managing over $3 million in charitable funds. In collaboration with our funding partners, we have distributed over $2 million to some 34 local non-profits in grants that have impacted the lives of thousands of LGBT people in San Diego. Some of our programs include the San Diego HIV Funding Collaborative ($550,000 granted to 13 HIV service providers in 2010) and our Professional Advisor Network, which serves our community by providing cost-free educational seminars to our community on issues such as estate planning, financial management and charitable giving. You recently announced a strategic plan to work with the community to help identify and support needed services and programs. Is this a departure from the Foundation’s past strategic plans? Can you describe the concept and how it came about? The work of any organization is an evolutionary process and in that perspective this is not a departure. Foundations, like other organizations, go through periods of growth and change. Our experience in successfully managing the former AIDS Foun- dation assets and the San Diego HIV Funding Collaborative was an important step in our organizational development. This is a major and rapidly emerging community initiative of national importance. What key fac- tors influenced the foundation to take on something of such enormity and why now? By virtue of our role as a community foundation, we are not locked into any specific issue or program. Our mission to provide positive social change to San Diego’s LGBT community remains unchanged. The emerging needs of a rapidly growing LGBT senior demographic have been drawing national attention. It is a call that beckons us to look at the current critical issues we face together and try to help implement and support effective solutions. As for why now, Executive Director of The San Diego LGBT Community San Diego Community Center (The Center) Delores Jacobs said it best:
JULY 2011 | RAGE monthly 49
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