The Massachusetts House & Senate have approved LGBTQ inclusive language in House Bill No. 5033 “An Act to Improve Quality & Oversight of Long-Term care” & sent it to Governor Healey’s desk to be signed into law. This will help LGBTQ older adults & older people living with HIV in long-term care facilities. State Senator Jehlen stated, “I vividly remember testimony at one of our LGBT Aging Commission hearings. A family in western Massachusetts could no longer care for their transgender aunt & could not find a single nursing home that would admit her. Finally, they found one & that nursing home ironically put her in a converted closet.” Rep. Jack Patrick Lewis added, “LGBTQ+ seniors have spent their lives fighting for the social equality & legal protections that many of us now benefit from. Many of them were pioneers is this struggle, losing partners & friends at the height of the AIDS epidemic, while also fighting for our very right to exist publicly & proudly in our families, our schools, our faith communities & in our halls of government. The stories of LGBTQ+ seniors being forced back into the closet or mistreated in their golden years are simply unconscionable. I am grateful to House and Senate Leadership, along with all my legislative colleagues, for including this vital language that I worked on with Senator Jehlen in the final version of this bill.” In passing the LGBTQ Long Term Care Bill of Rights as part of the LTC oversight legislation Massachusetts joins four states California, New Jersey, New York, Oregon & the District of Columbia which have similar LGBTQ Long Term Care Bills of Rights.
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