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It wasn’t easy catching up with 68-year-old Portia Cantrell to talk about her Hometown Hero nomination.
“Hi Greg, getting ready to go into meeting at city hall regarding LGBTQ seniors and budget priorities for Dallas council members,” Cantrell texted on a Monday. “WE NEED AN LGBTQ Senior Liaison and I’m trying to get the council to back that and building a LGBTQ senior center. Should be home by 3.”
On Wednesday, Cantrell offered more times to connect and an explanation.
“I’m so sorry my responses have been slow… it’s been so hectic and crazy. Just got out of a meeting where I broke down in tears out of frustration. One day everyone is going to be older and will realize the resources I’m fighting for are important, but right now it just seems like my generation is invisible,” she wrote. “TY for being so patient and sincerely looking forward to speaking with you 🙏”
On Thursday, she shared an excerpt from an open letter she was writing “to the young and vibrant members of the LGBTQ community.”
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“‘I want to remind you of the incredible power you hold in shaping a better future for yourselves and those who will come after you. While you may be enjoying your youth and feeling a sense of freedom and acceptance, it’s crucial to remember that one day, each of us will grow older, and our needs may change. You won’t always look and feel the way you do today!'”
For a few harried days in September, it was like riding shotgun on Cantrell’s drive for LGBTQ+ senior visibility, a trip that featured the retired nurse making “good trouble” at Dallas City Hall, in the words of late Congressman John Lewis and the admirer who nominated Cantrell for Hometown Hero (and wishes to remain anonymous), and little tolerance for “the bullshit — please excuse my language —” that’s served with city council politics.
“They all want me to just shut up, you know?” Cantrell laments.
Her opportunities for making “good trouble” are many.
Cantrell is a member of the Dallas Senior Affairs Commission, where she’s a commissioner for a large part of the city’s gayborhood. She’s also on the board of directors of the Dallas County Area Agency on Aging, is the only gay member of the Dallas City Council’s Library Commission, and is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Silver Pride Project, advocating for LGBTQ+ seniors.
In October, she’ll be honored by the Black Tie Dinner organization in Dallas with their 2023 Kuchling Humanitarian Award for service to the LGBTQ+ community.
While all of her work is directed at improving the lives of LGBTQ+ boomers (“the largest out generation that has ever existed,” she explains), Cantrell sees young people as key to making that happen.
“During the pandemic, when we were locked away, we couldn’t get out to the grocery stores, so I put together a group of the younger people in the community who would go and do grocery shopping for us,” Cantrell explains about one Silver Pride Project initiative called Tele-Friend.
“But people didn’t know how to order the groceries, they weren’t familiar with the apps. Trying to walk somebody through this who’s not familiar with using their phone for anything other than texting was a real challenge,” she says.
“So my wife’s a nurse anesthetist — don’t tell anyone, but she would bring protective gear home from work. And I would get all suited up and I would go to different seniors and give them one-on-one instruction. And then we would connect a younger person with an older person, and that person was responsible for getting their groceries, calling them two or three times a week just to talk and chat and see how they were doing.”
“I learned a lot, too,” Cantrell says of her pandemic-era tutorials. “My wife is 20 years younger than me, and she thinks I don’t know a lot, but there are people out there that don’t know a tenth of what I know. So you can see how my generation is at a severe disadvantage.”
Those intergenerational relationships are key for both groups, Cantrell says.
“Take it from me,” Cantrell wrote in that open letter to young people in the community, “LGBTQ seniors face unique challenges that require a support system tailored to our experiences and identities.”
“Remember, the actions you take today will shape the world you’ll live in tomorrow. By proactively setting up resources and support systems for LGBTQ seniors, you are not only securing your own future but also cultivating a more inclusive society for generations to come.”
The same could be said of Cantrell.
“Thank you again SO VERY MUCH,” she wrote in one of her last texts after our interview. “Especially for letting me vent ❤️.”
