Celebrating Pride by Advocating for LGBTQ Seniors

Celebrating Pride by Advocating for LGBTQ Seniors Whole Care Network 49:31

LGBTQ seniors are among the most important and rapidly growing segment of our community.

Understanding LGBTQ history can help us be better caretakers and advocates for LGBTQ older adults.

Our guest, Amy Whelan has been a Senior Staff Attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) since 2011 and works on NCLR’s full range of litigation, policy, and public education work.

Amy litigates complex civil cases around the country regarding marriage equality, employment discrimination, Title IX, family law, access to healthcare, prisoners’ civil rights, the First Amendment, and other constitutional matters.

Amy and the entire staff at NCLR keenly understand the special needs of the LGBTQ community, especially our LGBTQ seniors and their caregivers.

Listen in and learn how Amy and the National Center for Lesbian Rights are creating Healing Ties all around us!

Christopher MacLellan The Bow Tie Guy

You Might Know Me As The Bow Tie Guy - "Wearing a bow tie is like wearing two smiles."

When people ask me, "why did you create the Whole Care Network"... I always come back to our caregiving experience and how fortunate I was to find resources that helped me and my partner Richard Schiffer manage our caregiving journey. Every caregiver has a story; through our stories, we find validation, resources, and respite to help manage our caregiving day.

We were fortunate to have our story chronicled in a 2015 Pulitzer Prize-nominated 3-part story, “In Sickness and In Health: A Couple’s Final Journey,” which told our journey of caregiving. The story told of the challenges LGBT partners have in dealing with the medical and legal system, but it also told of the love and joy my partner Richard's last years had on our relationship.