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‘I had to pretend I was something I wasn’t’

“I had to separate myself. I had to pretend I was someone I wasn’t (Wheeler, 2016, para. 2).” Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow heard those words from a friend who was dying of cancer, who was discussing her fear of talking openly about her sexuality with her hospice worker.

That isn’t an isolated incident. In a study from the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, 22% of those surveyed felt that they could be open about their sexual identities with health care staff. Almost 90% predicted that staff members would discriminate based on their sexual or gender identities, and 43% reported instances of mistreatment (Wheeler, 2016, para. 6).

That reality has prompted Rabbi Paasche-Orlow to create a series of programs to help long-term care residents and staff members learn to coexist.

Dee

Who is Dee?

‘I had to pretend I was something I wasn’t’

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References:

Dee

Gender Identity Our core sense of who we are as a man, a woman, a mixture of both, or neither.

Gender Expression How we show up in the world through choices like clothing, hair style, mannerisms or tone of voice.

Attraction How we feel toward others sexually, romantically and/or emotionally.

Biological Sex Physical attributes such as reproductive organs and genitalia, chromosomes, genes and hormone levels.

‘I had to pretend I was something I wasn’t’

Featured Content

References:

Dee

Gender Identity Our core sense of who we are as a man, a woman, a mixture of both, or neither.

Gender Expression How we show up in the world through choices like clothing, hair style, mannerisms or tone of voice.

Attraction How we feel toward others sexually, romantically and/or emotionally.

Biological Sex Physical attributes such as reproductive organs and genitalia, chromosomes, genes and hormone levels.

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