Around New England

Rainbow Flag Should Fly From Every Senior Center in Massachusetts, Town Official Says

June 12, 2019

Contractors working for the Massachusetts Department of Elder Affairs will have to take a one-hour “cultural competence” training session offering education on homosexual, bisexual, and transgender people.

An assistant director at the town senior center in Barnstable said during a “listening session” on Tuesday, June 11 that every senior center in the state should fly the rainbow flag, as her town’s senior center does, according to The Cape Cod Times.

Participants discussed unique problems among elderly homosexuals when it comes to dealing with grief when their partners die, because same-sex relationships are not universally recognized.

“There is so much education that is lacking,” says a letter read during the meeting from a woman who is civilly married to another woman, according to The Cape Cod Times.