Clip from Documentary Gen Silent: Lawrence Discusses Caregiving
April 2011
Lawrence discusses unexpectedly becoming a caregiver for Alexandre, his partner of 38 years. A special thank you to director Stu Maddux for permission to use this clip.
About Gen Silent
Gen Silent, a documentary from award-winning director Stu Maddux, follows six LGBT older adults in Boston, Massachusetts over a year as they navigate the paid and unpaid care system. They put a face on what experts in the film call an epidemic: gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender older adults so afraid of discrimination in long-term/health care or bullying by other elders that many go back into the closet. Gen Silent is available in group rental, academic and training versions. Please click here for more info.
Unlike any film before, Gen Silent startlingly discovers how oppression in the years before Stonewall still affects generations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people with feelings of distrust and dangerous isolation. This hour-long documentary also shows the wide range in quality of paid caregivers—from those who are specifically trained to make LGBT seniors feel safe, to the other end of the spectrum and places where LGBT elders face discrimination or religious conversion by paid care givers and bullying by other seniors.
As we witness the challenges that these men and women face, we also see hope as each subject crosses paths with an impassioned professional trying in their own way to change an entire care industry. Learn more about this film, and search for screenings in your area, at gensilent.com.