Resources

Cake

Whether you’re navigating the loss of a loved one or planning for yourself, we are the authoritative source on the internet to figure out what you have to do, what options you have, and how to find professionals who can help you take care of yourself and honor your loved ones. We help you and your family know your rights, know how much things should cost, and simplify this complex and fragmented process. We stand by you with guidance and comfort when you need it most. Our goal? To make sure everyone can live fully and die well. [LINK]

Chosen Family Law Center

The Chosen Family Law Center, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to cultivating equitable social and legal recognition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA) and polyamorous families and individuals, as well as other underserved family forms such as platonic co-parents or multigenerational families; eliminate prejudice and discrimination and defend human, civil, and other rights for these communities; and offering education to lawyers, therapists, and other professionals to enable them to best serve these communities. [LINK]

Compassion & Choices

The “Pride in a Box” online toolkit provides valuable educational materials and practical information to help share resources with LGBTQ+ citizens in states with Medical Aid in Dying (MAID). [LINK]

Death Cafe

Death Cafe is a ‘social franchise’. This means that people who sign up to our guide and principles can use the name Death Cafe, post events to this website and talk to the press as an affiliate of Death Cafe. Death Cafes have spread quickly across Europe, North America and Australasia. As of today, we have offered 18312 Death Cafes in 90 countries since September 2011. If 10 people came to each one that would be 183120 participants. We’ve established both that there are people who are keen to talk about death and that many are passionate enough to organise their own Death Cafe. [LINK]

Death Curious

Death Curious is a platform for death exploration and a community of like-minded, curiously death positive people. We imagine a future in which talking about death is normalized, comfortable, and even encouraged. Through death curious education, our goal is to help you better understand your own mortality, gain confidence talking to others about theirs, and to build a supportive community of mortality explorers. [LINK]

Death Doula Directory

  The Death Doula Collective is a gathering of individuals from all over the country. All graduates from an End of Life Doula Training program, with unique skills, experiences, and extensive training working with people in various stages of life. We are compassionate advocates, consultants, companions, guides, space holders, ceremonialists, and vigil attendants. We believe that no one should die alone, and any family would benefit from conscious and dedicated support for their dying loved one. We would be so honored to walk with you and your family through this sacred rite of passage. Individual doulas have not been vetted. [LINK]

Funeral Consumers Alliance

Funeral Consumers Alliance is a national consumer organization that monitors the funeral industry, keeping a close eye on industry trends and advocating for fair practices on the behalf of consumers. Our network of volunteers not only work directly with consumers, but also alongside those fighting for legal and regulatory reform on the local, state, and national levels. [LINK]

Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Modernization Initiative will better serve the needs of patients and families. The Initiative will strengthen accountability, equity, and performance of the organ donation and transplantation system through a focus on five key areas: technology; data transparency; governance; operations; and quality improvement and innovation. As a first step in the Modernization Initiative, HRSA launched a new dashboard and Public Use File (PUF) to enhance transparency in the national organ donation, procurement, and transplantation system. [LINK]

Human Rights Campaign

The Human Rights Campaign is the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. They drive impact by inspiring, engaging and mobilizing millions of pro-equality voters and supporters to elect pro-equality leaders and to demand equity-based policies and legislation; changing hearts and minds through programming that increases understanding, visibility and support for the diverse LGBTQ+ community in all aspects of our identities; and transforming the institutions and systems that shape our everyday lives by advancing LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and practices in schools, workplaces, hospitals, communities and beyond. [LINK]

Identity Affirming Deathcare Planning Resources (IADD)

The Identity Affirming Deathcare Directives (c) workbook is a free resource for all LGBTQ+ and Religious, Secular, and Spiritual Identities (RSSI) to reflect on and record how their identity informs their deathcare decisions. There are a lot of great planning resources & wish recording tools out there. This is a complement to those guides – it is the only directive workbook that focuses on how our LGBTQIA+ identity and RSSI (Religious, Secular, and Spiritual identity) inform our deathcare decisions.

LGBTQ Guide to Online Safety

Sarah Turner is an experienced cybersecurity blogger, tech expert, and social activist. She’s making the internet a safer and more inclusive place for everyone, and works tirelessly to share her knowledge. Along with VPN Mentor, experts in the field of cybersecurity, she formed a mission to provide practical strategies for coping with adversity, bigotry, and abuse on the web. They created this guide which breaks down different issues and types of situations that could arise. Many of these things can be tied into our digital legacies as LGBTQ+ individuals and lots of other online experiences when someone we love dies. [LINK]

Long-Term Equity Index

The Long-Term Care Equality Index (LEI) is the first national benchmarking tool for LGBTQ+ inclusion in senior housing and long-term care communities. With free resources, technical assistance and a biennial survey, the LEI helps communities implement, strengthen, and innovate their LGBTQ+ inclusion efforts. The LEI report formally recognizes communities leading in LGBTQ+ inclusion. [LINK]

National End-of-Life Doula Alliance (NEDA)

The National End-of-Life Doula Alliance “NEDA” is a diverse and inclusive non-profit that serves as a “big tent” for those who share its mission to influence positive changes in how people experience end of life by developing and advocating numerous efforts that improve access to a broad spectrum of holistic non-medical support provided by end-of-life doulas (EOLDs). [LINK]

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)

NHPCO is committed to helping underserved communities access the person-centered care they deserve. Hospice providers have a history of meeting the unique needs of diverse communities going back to the early days of the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s when compassion, dignity, and care were so desperately needed by those marginalized at the time. With a strong foundation and the support of resources like this LGTBQ+ resource guide, we hope all hospices and palliative care providers will provide the best care possible to LGBTQ+ patients and families. [LINK]

National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC)

At NGLCC, we recognize that a growing business not only needs a strong local network where business owners live and work but also business certification and access to all the strategic growth opportunities offered by our national organization. Find your state, then in the membership directory search bar, type in “funeral” to find providers who are members of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce. [LINK]

Order of the Good Death

The Order is creating comprehensive LGBTQ+ end-of-life planning guides for every U.S. state. We want everyone to have a good death—one in which affirming care is both accessible and rooted in the understanding that a dignified death respects each person’s identity, wishes, and chosen family. It is our hope that the availability of LGBTQ+ End-Of-Life Guides will bring people a step closer to the good death we all deserve. [LINK]

Remembrance Pets

Owned by a gay couple who want to help families who are mourning the loss of their pets. For families which don’t have children, this service can help memorialize the important, loving relationship that families have with their pets.   LINK

SAGE

We make aging better for LGBTQ+ people nationwide. How? We show up and speak out for the issues that matter to us. We teach. We answer your calls. We connect—generations, each other, allies. We win. And together, we celebrate. [LINK]