When We Rise, an ABC mini-series docudrama

The recent ABC mini-series docudrama When We Rise covers the lives in America of a handful of actual persons over a period of 40 years. Although the reviews were good, the 4-night, 8-hour series covered a wide expanse of LGBT history that sometimes was hard to follow. I recorded the series on a DVR to avoid the frequent commercials that further broke-up the continuity.

Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE) is one of the first organizations to provide services for the elderly LGBT community. The organization originally was founded in New York City in 1978, and now it has spread with SAGENET 28 affiliates in 20 states, including an active chapter in Raleigh.

The national organization is involved with a wide range of issues, and the local chapter provides support services and activities for LGBT elders. Single LGBT people often have no family or support system to help as they age and often go "back into the closet" when they move into institutions. Of course, one of the primary objectives is to help them to remain independent both physically and mentally. Discrimination knows no boundaries, but it is particularly devastating on the elderly.

Cooperating organizations include the U.S. Administration on Aging and AARP. The local chapter has focused on advocating for affordable housing in our community since that is an issue as the city rapidly has grown. Younger families move out farther into the suburbs where housing is less expensive, but that isolates LGBT seniors with few social connections. Unfortunately, many churches that otherwise provide a social connection discriminate against LGBT people.

The Pulse incident in Orlando combined the combustible mixture of homophobia, religion, and assault weapons into an explosion that rocked the nation. The reactions have been all across the board, depending upon people’s political persuasions. The big question remains: will another mass shooting change public policy in any way?

We’ve already seen “religious freedom” bills that legalize homophobic bigotry as a backlash against same-sex marriage. We’ve seen transgender people singled out for particular discrimination. We’ve had numerous calls for new gun control laws and bans of assault weapons, and the other side says we need more guns. We’ve heard the about the terrible state of mental health services in the US. We’ve experienced a rapid growth of radical extremists of all stripes. We’ve hunkered down in a state of fear, confusion, blame, and dug into our entrenched positions like the bunkers of WWI. The bloody assaults continue in an expanding war zone, but solutions seem even further beyond the horizon.