Tim R. Johnston
Connect with Tim
About Tim
Johnston is responsible for directing SAGE’s national training initiatives, developing training curricula and providing consulting services to both aging and LGBT service providers. In addition to training, Tim oversees key national grants and projects, such as SAGE’s National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, the US Administration for Community Living’s Senior Medicare Patrol Integration project, and elements of SAGE’s National LGBT Elder Housing Initiative.
Contributions
Affirmation as a Way to Understand and Create Safe Spaces for all People
In the News
Publications
Uses philosophy and care ethics to make the case for including questions related to sexual orientation and gender identity on intake forms and intake interviews.
Presents several lessons I have learned creating and conducting trainings related to bisexual identities and bisexual aging.
Argues that affirmation is not only encouragement or support, but also the primary mechanism we use to form our identities and create safe spaces. Using the work of feminist care ethics and the thinking of French philosopher Henri Bergson, examines responses to school bullying and abuses faced by LGBT older adults to provide the theoretical analysis and practical tools LGBT people and their allies need to make all spaces, public and private, spaces in which we can live openly as members of the LGBT community.
Uses my notion of affirmation to provide a philosophical and feminist critique of zero-tolerance policies, and describe why ecological solutions to bullying are preferable to zero-tolerance policies.
Argues that activists need to move beyond the rhetoric of being born LGBT in order to fully respect and advocate for LGBT communities.
Highlights the role and impact of the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging’s training program for aging network providers. Demonstrates that the trainings are effective in changing knowledge and attitudes about LGBT aging.