ZAMI NOBLA News & Notices

News

Mary Anne Adams, Founder.

“Reeling in the Years: The storied and ongoing journey of ZAMI NOBLA,” Rough Draft Atlanta, 11 Mar 2025, https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2025/03/11/atlanta-zami-organization/.

…[O]lder people who helped build the LGBTQ+ movement cannot afford to be “thrown away,” because they carry so much knowledge.

“Elders need our young generations. We’re interdependent as marginalized communities. People are trying to kill us, every day,” Adams said. “Ain’t nobody going to save us but us. And ‘us’ means LGBTQ+.”

…[I]t’s up to each generation to pass their stories on, to create safe, nurturing spaces for everyone. “We can keep people in their homes longer, we can have collaborative community accommodation,” Adams said. “We can ensure access to medical care, with non-oppressive providers who don’t turn people away because they’re queer.”

ZAMI NOBLA member Deneen Day featured as caregiver in Alzheimer’s article.

“‘I had to be a warrior':’ How one Black, LGBTQ+ Ohioan blazed a trail in Alzheimer’s caregiving”, The Buckeye Flame, 28 Jan 2025, https://thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/01/28/black-lgbtq-caregiver-blazes-trail-in-ohios-alzheimers-community/.

“I’ve done two tours of duty,” Deneen Day says without hesitation, introducing herself.

No, the Columbus native has never served in the military. But she is certainly a veteran of a different sort. 

Day has twice served as the primary caregiver for close family members with Alzheimer’s disease. For any individual, this role can be exhausting and all-consuming. But as an LGBTQ+ Black woman who has had to navigate support systems designed for people who don’t look like her or love like her, Day has encountered obstacles that straight white caregivers simply do not encounter. 

Add to the mix that Black Americans are twice as likely as older whites to have Alzheimer’s or another dementia, and you have an embattled landscape that only a seasoned veteran could traverse.

“I have had to be a warrior, that’s for sure,” Day laughs. “But I just put on my cape and did what I had to do.”