A Bash to Benefit

How is one soon-to-be 65-year-old celebrating his big birthday?

Harry "Heshie" Zinman is throwing a fund-raising bash called "Heshiebowl LXV." And the public is invited.

The party is set for 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, at Tavern On Camac, 243 S. Camac St., in Center City.

Tickets, which include two drinks, light fare, and a tax-deductible donation, are $65 each. General admission is $25. (See the invitation at facebook.com/HeshiebowlLXV).

Why would a brand-new senior fete himself so prominently? The needs of the elderly have come to the forefront for the LGBT community, Zinman said.

Legalization of gay marriage prompted a flurry of estate and health-care discussions. Mainstream media now feature lesbian, gay, and transgender characters on such television shows as Transparent, Orange Is the New Black, and Glee, as well as in movies such as The Danish Girl.

But the true reason Zinman is throwing his 65th birthday party is to raise money for Philadelphia's LGBT Elder Initiative, the group he founded in 2010 to help fill the need for health services; housing, case management, and social services; and social networking for LGBT seniors in the Philadelphia area.

The number of LGBT Americans over age 65 is put at 1.4 million to 3.8 million; by 2030, that figure will grow to almost eight million, he estimated.

"LGBT older adults are especially reliant on programs like Social Security, and same-sex partners do not have access to federal family-leave benefits, equivalent Medicaid spend-downs, Social Security benefits, bereavement leave, or automatic inheritance of jointly owned real estate and personal property," Zinman noted.

They also are more isolated.

Compared with heterosexual seniors, LGBT seniors are twice as likely to live alone; half as likely to have close relatives to call for help; and four times less likely to have children, the primary caregivers of seniors.

"Most caregivers for seniors are immediate family, with children taking care of parents and grandparents. But we don't always have that," Zinman said.

His generation witnessed many die of AIDS and HIV in the 1980s. That prompted Zinman, who graduated from Northeast High School, to become an activist in Philadelphia.

In the '80s, he cofounded the AIDS Library of Philadelphia; he was executive director for 13 years. In 1998, he took a job at DuPont Pharmaceuticals, then moved to Bristol-Myers Squibb to do AIDS education. He retired in 2004.

By 2010, "I was 59. What was life going to look like when we as a community started aging? What if I get sick, what would I need? That's why I created LGBT Elder Initiative."

Moreover, he said, "the survivors [of the 1980s AIDS crisis] are now seniors.

Zinman advised that retirees "find a purpose. All seniors tend to isolate, and that can lead to depression and suicide."

The William Way Center hosts a "Mornings Out" men's social group every Tuesday, he noted. "It's a place to socialize. The group is a lifeline for men who've lost friends, partners, or have retired. My greatest concern is to provide outlets to be social and to volunteer."

SAGE Philadelphia (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) also provides programs for adults age 50 and over. Those include the 50+ Rap Session, Connecting Generations, Women's Wednesdays, SAGEWorks, and Silver Foxes.

As part of its mission, the LGBT Elder Initiative (lgbtei.org) produces senior-friendly guides on housing, legal services, and health care. The guides identify resources that are safe and culturally sensitive.

"A lot of LGBT elders don't want to go to the doctor for fear they'll be abused. We've also seen LGBT seniors in nursing homes or who develop Alzheimer's mistreated by uneducated staff," Zinman said.

Medical experts confirm that. For seniors considering gender-reassignment surgery, for instance, "coming out as transgender is still not as easy as it should be, but it can be especially difficult for those trying to create a new identity after decades of living life as someone else," explained Sherman Leis, a surgeon who founded the Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery on Montgomery Avenue in Bala Cynwyd.

"Most people in this age bracket grew up during an era of harsh gender stereotypes and repressed their feelings for many years. An overwhelming proportion of these late transitioners had previously married, a dynamic that often causes postponement of the transition," he said.

Some key reasons people put off transitioning until their later years include fear of a spouse's or children's reaction; fear of discrimination at work; fear of receiving a dishonorable discharge from the armed forces; and lack of money for medical procedures.

Now, Medicare has begun covering gender-reassignment surgery. And Leis observed that senior transgender patients are among his happiest because satisfying their dream has been such a long time coming.

"For them, it's always better late than never."

earvedlund@phillynews.com

215-854-2808@erinarvedlund