Six years ago, during an AustinUP presentation on focus groups related to Austin’s Age-Friendly Plan, a woman in the audience spoke up and asked, ‘Where’s the LGBT focus group results? We don’t all wear little bitty bathing suits and ride on floats, you know. Some of us have been your neighbors for years, raising our kids, but we have issues, too.’ With the assistance of Austin Prime Timers, AustinUP added an LGBT focus group which facilitated a Community Conversation of 40-50 seniors from the LGBT community.
That meeting resulted in walls papered with issues and eventually to the formation of the Austin LGBT Coalition on Aging. With the continued support of AustinUP, the Coalition branched off to form an additional organization, the LGBT Elder Task Force, and today both organizations continue to advocate for LGBT seniors and to work on issues like safe and affordable housing and social isolation.
I support AustinUP because they are committed to putting “All Y’all” in Austin’s Age-Friendly Plan.