The 26D Foundation plans to open a specialized residence for older people from the LGTBI community this year in the city.
La 26D Foundation, dedicated to specialized and professional psychosocial care for older people LGTBIQ +announced in A Coruña that will open in the city the second residence of Spain specialized in older people from that group. A supervised apartment in the city to create a safe welcome space for older people LGTBIQ +.
«The LGTBIQ+ seniors They are not being treated well. Many people are still armed because they have lived in fear all their lives, they have been raised with beatings, in hatred, they have not been able to learn affection or socialization and they have grown up internalizing that they were bad or evil, internalizing the homophobia in which they raised", Explain Federico Armenteros, President of the Foundation. "They have also internalized what they were told and felt since they were little, that they were alone and were going to stay alone. And today they begin to notice that unwanted loneliness", Add.
Unwanted loneliness
The residence is a duplex of more than 230 square meters in the A Coruña neighborhood of The Rosales, close to the sea, provided by the Democratic Union of Pensioners and Retirees of the city and that will have the capacity to accommodate twelve tenants. They already have it practically ready and are just waiting for the Xunta provide them with the license to start it and for the City Council to begin processing the granting of the places. «We try to make people feel at home, in their surroundings."He explained Armenteros, to respond to the “situations of unwanted loneliness" In the collective. “We are a group that has been beaten a lot and that has left a lot of residue.", lament.
«It is not an exclusive residence for LGTBIQ+ people, it is also open to heterosexual people, although they should know that our work is adapted to the needs of the first.«, Details Francisco Novo, the social worker of the Foundation who will be in charge of managing the apartment and caring for its users. «It is not limited to A Coruña either, it is open to the entire Galician area", Add Fito Ferreiro, former councilor of the local Corporation and delegate of the Foundation in the city.
Marginalization and exclusion
One of the main problems of the elderly LGTBIQ + is that the marginalization and exclusion to which they were subjected prevented them from developing stable careers, contributing and guaranteeing a decent life after their retirement. «67% of LGTBIQ+ seniors have a non-contributory pension. 480 euros. How are you going to have a decent life or active aging with that income?«he asks Armamenteros.
Armenteros, Novo and Ferreiro They emphasize that the projects of Madrid and A Coruña They do not intend to build ghettos of gay, lesbian and trans seniors, but, on the contrary, to promote their integration and offer solutions to problems as common and unprecedented as a non-hetero couple being separated when requesting a joint place in a conventional residence.
