Recreational Benefits and Constraints of Homosexual Elders in Canada

When we observe the demographics of today¡¦s society, we notice that there is quite a change in the average age, as well as life expectancy. In 1993, the average life expectancy rose to an amazing 75.5 years, with women living an average of 79 years and men living an average of 72 years (Hawkins, 1996, p. 4). With this gradual rise in age, the idea of therapeutic recreation for the aging population has taken on a significant role. Therapeutic recreation uses recreation and leisure activities to meet the needs of people in order to improve their quality of life. These needs include social, physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual. The experience of engaging in recreation is perceived to have therapeutic benefits. Engaging in

This article compares and explore the views of both staff and residents regarding to the barriers to sexual expression in the residential aged care facilities. The study illustrated that most older people remain sexually active and express their sexual needs in many ways. The barriers to sexual expression among older people are due to stereotypes, the loss of partner, the prevalence of chronic diseases, side effects that from the use of medications, the lack of privacy, and staff attitude towards sexuality in older age. Most staff have no training on issues related to sexuality and they feel uncomfortable when come to sexual issues in older people. However, the staff members in RACF’s were aware of many barriers that residents will face regarding

This article describes the aging gay and lesbian community. Past research of this community focused more on the gay White man, well-educated, active in the gay community and high socioeconomic backgrounds. This study examines current roles of social work regarding research with older gay men and lesbians and presents recommendations for both practice and research in the years ahead. Not only is this community of sexism, they are also victims of ageism. Future work must strive to be more representative of older lesbians, geographic diversity, and classes because these variables play an important role in shaping the gay aging experience.

Despite many services being available to older adults such as: Older Americans Act (OAA), Medicare, Social Security Income many of these resources do not incorporate LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) issues. The intersectionality of ageing LGBT issues is incredibly necessary because of the disparities of socio-economic status and assisted care. In an article, Social, Economic, and Health Disparities Among LGBT Older Adults author Charles Emlet states that older adults are more vulnerable to poverty and 26 percent of adults ages 65 and older live below 200 percent the poverty level.

He contradicted the argument that homosexual behaviour is related to genetic, hormonal or biological disorder. To abolish these views, the author mentions that ‘no school of medicine, medical journal or professional organization has ever recognized such claims (p. 2) - at least at the time he wrote the article in 1994.

Sexual diversity among the older generation must be considered. Lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) is how 10% of the population identifies itself. By 2030 the percentage of LGBT will have doubled. In the past, this group has been invisible and given little consideration. Organizations such as AARP, Movement Advancement Project and advocacy programs are taking action to address the needs of this population through policy and regulation changes. For residents living in assisted living and skilled nursing homes, the Joint Commission created respect for sexual orientation to the rights of the resident.

This paper will continue on, researching the societal change/acceptance in the gay and lesbian community as no longer being unorthodox and with the stigma coming from the gay community itself.

Once the New York Time published Rare Cancer seen in 41 Homosexuals, it stated that, “Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer.” (Atlman) This started the stigma that this cancer was only affecting homosexuals and the term “gay cancer” was created. By the end of 1981 there were 270 gay men with severe immune deficiency and about 44% of those men had passed away the same year. Additionally, researchers started calling this illness GRID which stood for Gay-Related Immune Deficiency. Consequently, A Timeline of HIV/AIDS on the government website on AIDS stated, “This terminology influences both the medical profession and the public to perceive the epidemic as limited to gay men, with serious long-term consequences for women, heterosexual men, hemophiliacs, people who inject drugs, and children. (“A Timeline of HIV/AIDS”2017) Because it was perceived as something that only affected the LGBTQ+ community causes that arouse of other people created a fear among

Throughout the past twelve weeks of taking Women and Gender studies, I have learned extensive amounts of information and will be able to take all of the ideas and concepts learned into action outside of the classroom. Each class, we had various conversations about what was going on in the world around us and how that affects each and every one of us. With the knowledge that I now have, I feel as if I am a much better citizen in Canada since I acquire the knowledge of the history in Canada and the conditions of women’s lives, and also how factors such as race, class, and sexual orientation come into play in daily life. In class, we talked about oppression very often which is, unjust treatment of control. Oppression is a major issue in Canadian society and has many aspects to it. One of the most important pieces of information that I got from taking this course was how destructive power systems function to maintain their

* June 2001, Leger Marketing and Canadian Press performed telephone interviews with 1507 English and French speaking Canadians over 18 years old on their views of homosexuality.

There are many religious organizations that are against homosexuality; however, the separation of church and government still exists and that makes an argument discretionary in terms of legality. Since Canada was not, in any sense, founded on Christian religion we should not tie Christian beliefs to our government. Citizens should not expect their government to express and defined Christian beliefs. As a Christian, I may not be a strong believer but I believe that there should be a great distance between the church and the government because I do not want others to be governed by laws who does not believe in religiously and there are many religions than just Christianity that have different beliefs and values. When it comes to homosexuality,

Families were worried that if their child was exposed to homosexuality, or were themselves gay, that their morals would be tarnished and they would embark towards promiscuous behaviour. Books were given to teens providing advice on how to reach “normality”. They were trying to scare kids into believing that heterosexuality was the only option and anything otherwise was not normal. They also wanted to guilt the children into believing that being gay would not only ostracize yourself, but would also shame your family. Families would tell their children that they needed to be heterosexual to defend Canada. They would also use examples from Canadian society as per what would happen if they did end up gay. Examples like how the

​Canada is often seen as a leader in the gay rights movement and it has a long history of providing rights to those that identify as homosexual (BC Teachers’ Federation, 2016; Cotler, 2015). As far back as 1969, Prime Minister Trudeau passed Bill C-150 which amended the Criminal Code to decriminalize “gross indecency” and “buggery”; if committed between two consenting adults if they are over 21 (BC Teachers’ Federation, 2016). The Code was further amended to drop the age of consent for anal sex from 18 and 14 for other sexual activity and it was recognized that a higher age for consent of anal sex was unconstitutional (BC Teachers’ Federation, 2016). Since then there have been many changes to the political and social system in Canada to be able to improve the rights not only individuals whom are part of the LGBTQ community, but also for those whom are in same sex relationships (BC Teachers’ Federation, 2016). As of 2005, same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada; however, there is still debate of whether or not same-sex legalization has legitimized same-sex partnerships within society (Colter, 2015). Many cases that have come before the court regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriages have argued that the actions of society are a direct violation of people’s s.15 rights in the Constitution; which allows for every person to be treated equally and bear the freedom of religion (Supreme Court Judgements, 2004). It will be argued that Canada has created equal rights for

There were 4 respectful and identified by the author, in order to statistically define and distribute the roles but also to make a difference between and within those categories, and the difference of the reasons pushing those man engage in a deviant activity. Regarding of a dramatical difference two categories I would say naturally opposed: the successful ( more or less) representative of the type 2- Ambisexuals. They seems to be only one Category seeking for fun, and some other explanations that just a homosexuals needs. As author describes that they are the Representative of a highest class from all the 4 groups, they have for most of them high education, at least college one, two-thirds of the are the married participants with occupational independence, have more or less loving wife and kids. Author do not distinguish for them the special needs in sex or homosexual acts, but just the need for a destruction from their tensed professional and personal life, however very important point is that they are happy in their real life, have friends fro tearooms and keeps warm relations with them, they seems to jangle perfectly between the both of their lives.

When planning leisure activities for disadvantaged groups it is essential to consider both the sociological and psychological factors that may influence participation. A short stay excursion to a Melbourne Cup race can be used to highlight the complexities involved in providing equitable leisure opportunities that combat both low social class and disability. As this excursion will highlight, despite the psychological benefits of leisure, young people with a disability face multiple sociological barriers to leisure choices and participation. When looking at leisure from a sociological perspective it is apparent that poverty restricts involvement in leisure choice and participation, which goes beyond the impacts of disability alone. The high