The population of the US is rapidly aging, at the same time as more people understand themselves to be transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming. Are our legal systems, housing supports, and long-term care system prepared to welcome and provide person-centered care to transgender and nonbinary people as we age? This workshop shares knowledge about aging in the transgender and nonbinary community, and surfaces questions about transgender and nonbinary people’s lived experience that may not be reflected in the way legal services are currently provided across the lifespan. We will have a transgender attorney of color ground our discussion by speaking about his lived experience as a lawyer and elder in the movement for transgender justice. We will talk about new municipal and state policies that recognize X gender markers on death certificates. In thinking about planning for aging and anticipating some of these challenges, a trusts and estates attorney will share her legal approach to providing legal advice to transgender and nonbinary people, and we will offer for consideration specific durable healthcare power of attorney provisions to protect trans and nonbinary people’s access to hormone replacement therapy and use of affirmed name, gender, and pronouns, after cognitive decline. Workshop participants will have a deeper understanding of how traditional aging supports, including the law, may be problematized for people of transgender and nonbinary experience, and how dementia may compound those barriers.
Aging & End-of-Life Legal Issues in the Transgender Community
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