When Mark Edward Dickerson and Kevin Miehlke got married, they’d been together more than 30 years. The pair runs Donelson Cafe inside FiftyForward Donelson Station, and they held their wedding in the center’s gymnasium. The ceremony was packed to standing room only. Dickerson recently discussed his nuptials on FiftyForward’s Squeeze the Day podcast:
“Seniors, you might think, ‘Hey, they’re not really going to be open to two guys here getting married.’ They all turned out, and it was such a wonderful evening.”
Dickerson is one of many older LGBTQ adults in Nashville, a population that FiftyForward has been looking for new ways to support. The organization serves more than 20,000 individuals through its seven centers in the city, providing services like assisted care and conservatorship, but also offering chances to socialize through programs and events. Gretchen Funk, FiftyForward’s chief program officer, explains that while older LGBTQ adults may face issues similar to those of the general population — like increasing physical frailty, isolation and medical concerns — these issues are “more acute” in marginalized communities.
In 2019, FiftyForward set up a series of listening sessions in the LGBTQ community. That same year, Nashville Pride began a large-scale study called the Community Visioning Project. Both organizations found significant needs in the older LGBTQ community. Nashville Pride found that nearly 60 percent of older adults reported feeling a lack of companionship, and 50 percent reported feeling isolated from others. And Funk says that in FiftyForward’s listening sessions, about 9 out of 10 respondents said they didn’t feel prepared about aging and how to access resources. “For us, it was very clear,” says Funk. “This is something that we should provide a focus around.”
Pride made six key recommendations in its Community Visioning Project report. One was dedicated resources for older LGBTQ adults. To address these needs, Pride created the Older Adult Visioning Task Force in 2019, a group that FiftyForward volunteered to host. Funk is one of the co-chairs of this committee. The other chair is Joseph Interrante, an LGBTQ community activist and former CEO of the HIV/AIDS service organization Nashville CARES.
Interrante says many issues surrounding aging are “magnified by the loneliness that a lot of us feel.” Older LGBTQ adults are more likely to live alone and to have less connection with families; they’re also more likely to experience health disparities. Visibility is a primary concern; so is isolation.
The task force meetings led FiftyForward to modify existing services and add new programs. One step was taking sensitivity training. In partnership with Stanford University’s PrideNet program, FiftyForward’s entire staff completed “cultural humility” training. Then they offered sensitivity training for community members in partnership with the local chapter of LGBTQ advocacy organization PFLAG. These sessions were well-attended, Funk says; many older adults know someone in the LGBTQ community and wanted to know how to support them. “Compared to maybe 10 years ago, so many people have a child, a niece, a nephew, a neighbor, a church member that is in the LGBT community,” says Funk. “So I think there’s much more of an interest in learning.”
To combat isolation, FiftyForward runs an LGBTQ peer support group, and Interrante points out similar benefits from volunteer opportunities, including on the task force. “The process of volunteering has made a lot of us feel less isolated,” he says. “It also increases our visibility within the community and within these organizations.”
FiftyForward also works to make Pride events (which are sometimes physically demanding) more accessible to older adults. This year, the FiftyForward Pride Party will provide an air-conditioned space, food and games at their Rains Avenue center after the Pride parade.
FiftyForward is also exploring long-term infrastructure changes. The Older Adult Visioning Task Force recommended exploring the possibility of becoming a SAGE affiliate (a satellite of the national advocacy group for older LGBTQ adults). SAGE affiliates operate differently in each city depending on the specific needs of the LGBTQ population, and Funk says there are some services, including the peer support group, that could already fit under SAGE’s umbrella.
In the meantime, the group will continue adapting and expanding their programs. “It’s been a real joy to work with the people we’ve worked with,” Funk says. “There’s a lot of synergy and a lot of goodwill.”
And for Interrante, being part of FiftyForward’s focus groups brought unexpected recognition. “Some of the most pressing and unmet needs are visibility and social isolation,” he says. “I felt it, and then in an odd way, I discovered to my delight that it wasn’t just me.”
The Nashville Pride Festival, the city’s queer history, a proposed LGBTQ community center and more
