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The way Donald M. Bell and his Chicago neighbors connect with each other is as important as it is simple.
“We have certain rituals that attract certain chunks of people,” Bell, 73, said. In the community room of a senior apartment. Also, cooking alone can be difficult, so sometimes we cook meals for each other, but it’s easy to share.
They watch each other’s pets, accompany them to doctor’s appointments, and check on their neighbors after medical procedures like the triple-bypass surgery Bell had about six years ago.
Such an act is healthy for everyone, regardless of age. But as residents of the city’s first LGBTQ-friendly senior housing development, Bell and his neighbors have had to overcome years of obstacles to be able to forge those connections. did.
“We’ve been told ‘you don’t care’ and we’re trying to show each other that we matter,” Bell said.
Studies show that social connections can help protect your health. But according to his 2020 report by the National Academy of Sciences, Academy of Engineering and Medicine, the lack of such connections, or social isolation, is associated with an increased risk of premature death from all causes. Poor social relationships also increase the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.
Benji Laniakea, Ph.D., assistant professor in the LGBTQ+ clinical program at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California, said: “We are together, wired to talk to each other, to communicate, to be together.”
But research shows that LGBTQ people are more likely to say they’re lonely.Several factors put LGBTQ older adults at greater risk of being isolated, according to Laniakea. Many have been shunned by their biological families or lost friends to AIDS. It is also possible that social discrimination prevented them from meeting their life partner.
According to LGBTQ+ elder advocacy and services organization SAGE, older LGBT people are more likely than their heterosexual peers to be single and live alone, are less likely to have children, and are deprived of potential sources of care. I’m here. And many fear discrimination when seeking help. “Some of our LGBTQ+ adults have had to go back to the closet to receive care at care facilities,” said Laniakea.
But social isolation is not just a problem for older people. Jonathan Garcia, an associate professor at Oregon State University in Corvallis, said young people rely on a variety of support systems, including families, schools, clubs and religious groups, to build their self-esteem. The heart of the Harry E. Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families.
For LGBTQ teens, these safe spaces can lead to rejection, bullying, and repeated messages that they don’t belong. “So they don’t feel like they get the support they need where they need it most,” he says.
Social isolation among LGBTQ youth is associated with problems such as depression, substance abuse, and suicide attempts. Garcia led a review on the effects of social isolation and connection in LGBTQ youth, and in 2019 she was published in Global Public Health. He said the problem could be exacerbated in young people who are also members of marginalized racial or ethnic groups. If you feel and experience racism, you may be excluded from the LGBTQ group.
Laniakea said the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated many isolation issues. Adults who have just come out are deprived of opportunities to connect with the LGBTQ world, but “for LGBTQ youth, especially those who may not have met their families, this effectively means going back to the closet.” I did.”
LGBTQ people have always had to find ways to build community, Laniakea said. It was about the right to assemble without being harassed. And there is a strong tradition of forming “chosen families” among people who may have been separated from their adoptive parents. , can be as strong as your biological family,” said Laniakea.
Laniakea said being among welcoming people can be very important for health by providing understanding and stress-relieving haven from personal insults and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. I said yes. Affirming people can send the message, “You are right, your gender and way of life are reasonable, and you are not hurting anyone else by existing in a way that is true to yourself.” I can do it.
Garcia, who led research on programs to build community among Hispanic LGBTQ youth, said society as a whole has a responsibility to address the causes of loneliness.
“Social isolation is not the result of individual failure,” he said. “This is not just an individual experience. It is the result of that systemic oppression.”
Volunteering can be both a way to meet people and build community, Garcia and Laniakea suggested. “That in itself allows people to be useful and serve their communities,” Garcia said. “It addresses isolation, but it also addresses some systemic issues.”
If you want to be an LGBTQ ally, you can join the Gender and Sexuality Alliance network (previously known as the Gay Straight Alliance) and schools that have been shown to reduce the harm from social isolation and the risk of suicide attempts. You can help by supporting anti-bullying policies and more. .
Allies can also bring someone to an LGBTQ community group.
A gay or homosexual, with two children of African, Indigenous, and Scottish-Irish descent, and a third-generation Chicago citizen, Bell builds a community in his City Hall apartment. LGBTQ friendly development in a converted police station not far from Wrigley Field.
He recognizes that in a city where tens of thousands of people identify as LGBTQ, making room for dozens of people is far from the answer. But he appreciates it.
Residents look out for each other, he said, “recognizing that this is essential.”
Born in 1949, he describes “a time when there’s nowhere to go and nowhere to go. He and his friends can share jokes without needing to give context, let their guard down and be themselves.” It’s a place where “you are told you matter”, he said.
If you have any questions or comments about this American Heart Association news story, please email editor@heart.org.
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