INTERNATIONAL
Focus on LGBTQ Latin American, Caribbean Seniors
Alliance between SAGE, ILGALAC explores new paths forward for queer elders
Pedro Paradiso Sottile, who leads ILGALAC, discussed his team’s partnership with SAGE to improve LGBTQ rights for seniors in Latin America and the Caribbean.
BY MATT TRACY
An international coalition
dedicated to achieving
LGBTQ rights in Latin
America and the Caribbean
is teaming up with Advocacy
and Services for LGBT Elders
(SAGE) to highlight issues facing
queer seniors and advocate for improving
the plight of older adults in
that region of the world.
The idea for SAGE to embark
on a partnership with the International
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Trans, and Intersex Association’s
(IGLA) Latin American and Caribbean
branch — which is known
as ILGALAC — fi rst emerged a few
years ago when SAGE CEO Michael
Adams and Pedro Paradiso Sottile,
who heads up ILGALAC, initiated
informal discussions about how
the two teams could work together
to ensure that LGBTQ older adults
would be a priority in Latin America
and the Caribbean.
The partnership represents a
new frontier for SAGE, which has
typically focused on serving seniors
in the continental United
States but now has affi liates in
Puerto Rico and other locations.
The alliance could be infl uential in
the international landscape given
that ILGALAC consists of member
organizations across six regions —
Mexico, Central America, Brazil,
the Andean region across the western
side of South America, and the
Southern Cone encompassing the
southernmost countries in South
America. IGLA, which has fought
for LGBTQ rights and broader human
rights since 1978, consists
of 1,638 member organizations
across 159 countries.
“We started realizing over the
last fi ve years or so that we were
getting a growing number of requests
for information about our
work around LGBT older adults
from countries and organizations
across the globe,” Adams told Gay
City News during a joint interview
with Sottile at SAGE’s headquarters
in Manhattan on November
27. “When we adopted our new
strategic plan in 2016, we made a
decision for the fi rst time to build
up a body of international work to
see how SAGE could be helpful and
MATT TRACY
supportive of efforts in other parts
of the world to focus in on LGBT
older adults.”
During the interview, Adams and
Sottile opened up about the collaboration
and explained the ways in
which the two sides envision moving
forward with the partnership.
The alliance’s goals include lobbying
governments across member
states to improve legal protections
for LGBTQ seniors, amplifying the
campaign via an academic and activist
driven publication dedicated
to issues facing queer seniors in
the region, seeking forms of economic
reparations for queer older
adults, and pursuing other initiatives
that will be fi nalized in the
future. Adams stressed that SAGE
would offer resources and help
where necessary rather than lead
the way, and Sottile said ILGALAC
intends to learn from the programs
in place at SAGE.
The two sides have signed a
memorandum of understanding
signaling their collaboration and
distributed surveys to members to
develop an idea of the issues facing
seniors in the region — and
how those cultural climates differ
by country or region. More than
70 organizations across the region
responded to the survey, Sottile
said.
“The countries where there is
more of a focus on LGBT older
adults tend to be the countries that
have enacted equality laws, antidiscrimination
laws, protections
based on gender identity, marriage
laws, etc.,” Sottile, who is from Argentina,
said via translation from
Spanish. Adams said Costa Rica,
Bolivia, and Panama are among
the countries that already have
made strides in improving conditions
for LGBTQ older adults.
“On the other end of the spectrum
are countries where the problems
are more repressive,” Sottile
added. “We are seeing higher levels
of diffi culty and problems for LGBT
older adults in Central America
and the Caribbean, where there
are particularly signifi cant and
acute challenges.”
SAGE and ILGALAC are placing
a focus on transgender seniors as
well as those who, as Sottile mentioned
regarding Central America
and the Caribbean, are marginalized
in their respective home
countries and have been silenced
throughout their lives.
“We have information that the life
expectancy for transgender people
in our region of Latin America is
35, so obviously the very notion of
the right to life and right to live a
full life is in question, particularly
for transgender people,” Sottile explained.
While Sottile carefully stated
that different countries have different
laws and customs, he said
there are shared issues surrounding
the collective struggle of LGBTQ
seniors. The lack of inclusivity
and visibility, elder care, couples’
rights, healthcare, and basic economic
support systems like pensions
are of key importance, he
explained.
“All across the region there is a
push for adequate social security
for all older adults, and we recog-
➤ SAGE-IGLALAC, continued on p.39
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