WEAAD provides an opportunity to raise the awareness of the cultural, social, economic and demographic processes affecting elder abuse and neglect. Please join NVRDC, in partnership with DCTROV, on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, June 15, 2021 at 1 PM EDT, for our panel discussion “Building Strong Support for LGBTQ Elders.” Panelists will discuss the dynamics of elder abuse in the LGBTQ community, reporting, how groups can improve outreach and encourage survivors to access available resources.
To Register: bit.ly/LGBTQelders
Loree Cook-Daniels has been working on both LGBT and aging issues since 1974. In the 90s she was a primary staff person for the National Center on Elder Abuse, and was an early advocate for addressing the abuse of LGBT elders. She founded the Transgender Aging Network in 1998, and in 2000 became the Policy and Program Director for FORGE, a 27-year-old national transgender and SOFFA (Significant Others, Friends, Family, and Allies) organization that specializes in transgender aging and victims of violence. Formerly a contributing editor for the Victimization of the Elderly and Disabled, she has also authored numerous book chapters, articles and tip sheets on LGBT elder abuse. FORGE’s Transgender Aging Network was a founding partner in the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging and remains its primary transgender and elder abuse expert.
Christina Cappelletti (she/her/hers) is a licensed social work clinician and anti-violence advocate with the DC Center for the LGBT Community in Washington DC. Christina has been a queer change agent for over two decades, including several years in San Francisco/East Bay, California, coordinating LGBTQ youth and elders programs. She also lived in Colorado, where she started a gender identity counseling program at a public health clinic, as well as co-founding a queer-owned art gallery and community artists studio. Both as a therapist and an artist, she deeply appreciates creating space for the processes of personal freedom, growth and transformation for all identities
Murray Scheel is Senior Staff Attorney with Whitman-Walker Legal Services focusing on the legal needs of LGBT elders and those living with HIV/AIDS. He has been a practicing attorney since 2004. He joined Whitman-Walker Legal Services in 2013 from the firm of Karp, Wigodsky, Norwind & Gold, where he served as a senior associate in civil litigation. Before private practice, he clerked for the Honorable Noël A. Kramer on the DC Superior Court and the Honorable Vanessa Ruiz on the DC Court of Appeals. Prior to becoming an attorney, I worked at Community Connections with chronically mentally ill adults, many of whom were living with HIV. He graduated with honors from George Washington University Law School, his bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland. He is a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia Bars.