SAGE CEO Michael Adams.
➤ SAGE-IGLALAC, from p.14
nize that the states have a responsibility
to make that security
for all older adults, including
LGBT older adults,” he said.
ILGALAC and SAGE are
turning to Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights,
the Organization of American
States, and the United Nations
as part of their advocacy at the
governmental level. Among key
examples, ILGALAC recently
sponsored a conference in Bogota,
Colombia, and invited Victor
Madrigal-Borloz, the UN’s
independent expert on protection
against violence and discrimination
based on sexual
orientation and gender identity.
It was at that conference that
Madrigal-Borloz held his fi rstever
meeting with LGBTQ older
adults from Latin America, according
to Sottile, and engaged
with them about pressing issues.
“We want to keep expanding
this work at the governmental
level,” Sottile explained. “Among
other things, one of the things
that I want to work on is to convince
states to sign and ratify
the Convention on the Rights of
Older Persons because it contains
protections within it for
LGBT older adults.”
That treaty resembles the
United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child and
would address human rights issues
facing seniors.
Furthermore, the two sides
are evaluating the status of violence
and hate crimes in the
region — again with a focus on
vulnerable transgender seniors
— since Sottile said many seniors
are facing extortion and
blackmail as part of anti-LGBTQ
targeting of queer people.
The partnership also seeks to
address the lack of social spaces
in order to reduce social isolation
and improve services.
“In that regard, we are very
interested in looking at the programs
and services that SAGE
has created in the US over many
years to see which best practices
can be replicated in Latin
America,” Sottile said.
Generating change in the
region won’t be simple. Sottile
stressed that well-funded, organized,
fundamentalist religious
groups are on the rise in Latin
America and are vigorously opposed
to LGBTQ rights advances,
including the issues facing
seniors. In Argentina, Sottile
said the far-right military dictatorship
that emerged in the late
DONNA ACETO
1970s under Jorge Rafael Videla
left many survivors of that era
saddled with trauma that lingers
to this day.
“We had documented cases
of LGBT and trans people who
were jailed and denied liberty
due to their gender identity, and
there is a push now for those
individuals to receive reparations,”
Sottile said. “We are just
starting a conversation about
another piece of legislation that
could start in Argentina and focus
on reparations.”
The two teams will continue
to build their partnership after
recently using that conference
in Bogota to form an IGLALAC
working group on LGBT older
adults. SAGE, IGALAC, and organizations
in Costa Rica and
Argentina are coordinating that
working group, which will develop
a strategic plan that will
outline the future timeline.
“In this collaboration, we are
very committed to maximizing
our impact for elders in every
corner of our countries,” Sottile
said. “Not just in capitals, but
rural areas. The combination
of isolation and lack of services
and denial of human rights and
justice is devastating for our elders
and is something we have
to change now.”
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