Hip, Hip... Hooray!

The MAGA are celebrating Trump cuts... but in the real life it is hutting helpless people! Stopping funding for the Older Americans Act hurts innocent seniors... the program includes meals-on-wheels, in-home care, heating assistance, programs for the disabled and other programs supporting the elderly. But Musk and company are giving "hi-fives" about them axing the programs!

The Older Americans Act;

The Older Americans Act (OAA) was passed in 1965 as part of President Johnson’s “Great Society” initiative with the goal of supporting older Americans to live at home and in the community with dignity and independence for as long as possible.

For five decades, the OAA has been the foundation upon which the federal, state and local organizational infrastructure has developed, planned and delivered home and community-based services and supports to older adults and their caregivers. This infrastructure is defined in the OAA as a national Aging Network that currently includes 56 state and territorial units on aging, more than 600 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), more than 270 Title VI Native American Aging Programs, and more than 20,000 community service providers.

The OAA currently supports a wide array of programs and services, including information and referral, congregate and home-delivered meals, health and wellness programs, in-home care, transportation, elder abuse prevention, caregiver support and adult day care.

AAAs were added to the Act in 1973 to be the on-the-ground organizations charged with helping older adults live with independence and dignity in their homes and communities. The OAA mandates that AAAs use the flexibility provided in the law to ensure that local needs and preferences are taken into consideration and that the resulting local service delivery system is tailored to the community.

Philadelphia Gay News writes....

SAGE scored a victory against Trump — but LGBTQ+ older adults are still at risk

By Lauren Rowello

February 18, 2025

After the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo attempting to freeze federal grants and other financial assistance, SAGE — the nation’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ+ older adults — teamed up with the National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association and Main Street Alliance to challenge the directive in court.

Roughly a third of SAGE’s funding comes from the federal government — and Aaron Tax, managing director of government affairs and policy advocacy, said this means SAGE’s access to grants or other funding is at risk.

He also hopes the lawsuit helps to dispel the misunderstanding that SAGE or other nonprofits would have the power and resources on their own to pick up the slack if the federal government pulls funding from sectors that serve vulnerable populations.

“I don’t know how many people understand that the federal government — as well as states and localities — fund many nonprofits to do important work in their communities,” he underlined. “I think it’s important that people understand that connection.”

It is not just SAGE that would be hurting but all non-profits!

These businesses made long term plans, hire employees based on those plane, made capital investments based on the government funding and then only to have the rug pulled out from under them! Their elderly clients literally depend on the services, for them it is a matter of life or death.

Roughly 11 million people rely on programs funded under the Older Americans Act, Tax explained, which funds critical programs that allow people to age in place and in communities they already trust. A federal funding freeze places these programs at risk by making it harder for nonprofits to fund transportation assistance, legal assistance, chore assistance, individual and congregate meals, senior centers, fall prevention and other services that help older Americans. Tax believes LGBTQ+ older adults account for approximately 10% of those who rely on these programs.

Musk, Trump & company had a press conference at the White House bragging about how much they cut.

“This is a population that faces pronounced disparities as they get older,” Tax said. “There are many of the same challenges that other older people face, but often in a more pronounced way — so they’re facing higher rates of social isolation, are twice as likely to be single and four times less likely to have kids than their hetero counterparts, have higher rates of poverty (particularly pronounced among lesbian couples, who have twice the poverty rate of their heterosexual counterparts), and of course, experience more pronounced poverty with respect to people of color and trans older people. Then there’s a lack of access to culturally competent services and supports, both in the LGBT space and also in the aging space.”

Many LGBTQ+ older adults have lived during times when it didn’t feel safe or comfortable to live in their authenticity — and now, given the state of American politics and culture, some are facing similar decisions about whether or not to be “out” as they age.

The Republicans do not give a flying.... about us! If you are not worth serval hundred billions of dollars they don't want to talk to you.

Here in Connecticut, the Democrats have introduced a bill to protect us in long-term-care facilities...

HB 6913 AN ACT CONCERNING LGBTQ+ DISCRIMINATION IN LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES

You want to help?

Here is where you can find your Connecticut legislators.

Don't just sit there and b**** and moan... pick up your phone or send them an email your legislators, thank out federal senators and representatives for their work to protect us!

Write letters-to-the-editors in reply to negative letters-to-the-editors!

When you hear mean intervein!

Go to public hearings! Have you ever been to a school board meeting? Have you spoken out against the book bannings!

Do you know that there is a bill in the Connecticut legislature banning book bans?

SB 1271 AN ACT CONCERNING SCHOOL AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

Have you been b****ing and moaning about all the book bans that the Republicans have been pushing, well now's the time to contact your legislator and let them know you support the bills!

I remember the first time I called my legislators back in 2007 about the gender inclusive non-discrimination bill, I was scared s**tless. But over the years I got to know him and I was known with a smile as "Trouble maker Diana"

We cannot sit by in silence, we cannot be the cattle waiting to go to the slaughter!