Storme Delarverie - Honored LGBT Hero -or- Old and Disposable?

Our friend Susan Olmetti (the artist) called me today. Susan was very concerned about her dear friend Storme Delarvrie.

Storme Delarverie is a LGBT hero. A historically significant LGBT hero and an Ambassador of the Stonewall Veterans Association. She has served as it’s Vice President and is a member of the Executive Committee.

Storme has devoted a large portion of her life to the LGBT community.

Now she is facing another stonewall. One on a much more personal level and she needs our help.

Storme has lived at the Hotel Chelsea, in New York, for many years. She is now 89 years old but functions quite well, according to neighbors. The majority of the neighbors love her. She had a recent holiday family dinner with one of the neighbor families.

Here comes the kickers. She lives in a rent-controlled apartment (the landlord can not increase her rent). She’s lived there so long the apartment needs renovating!

There is also mention of back-rent being owed. Evidently there has been a ‘staffing change’ at the Hotel Chelsea and a problem has popped up. The previous staff member called a certain non-profit for their portion of Storme’s rent each month. The new staff member stopped doing that. For this reason, there is back-rent owed.

According to some reports Hotel Chelsea management secretly contacted a ‘compromised tenant’ and persuaded them to call friends of Storme’s with concerns of Storme’s mental capacity!

According to our friend Susan, Storme is currently hospitalized and undergoing a psychiatric assessment to apparently determine if she is capable of caring for herself or if she needs assistance (aka ‘be committed’).

Also, according to our friend Susan, a New York Court has designated guardianship (of Storme) to a private organization (JASA) employee who holds the title of social worker. JASA, Jewish Association for Services for the Aged, interestingly enough has their own Housing facilities. Housing facilities large enough to accommodate over 2000 residents.

I find it odd there isn’t a state employed ‘social worker’ involved instead of a private company-owned one. It also seems like a flagrant conflict of interest for the guardian to be an employee of a private company that provides housing to the aged. It is my belief Storme never has had any previous contact with this organization. JASA was simply granted guardianship over Storme by a judge.

To make matters worse, Susan states they (I’m assuming JASA) are sending people over to Storme’s apartment to clean it up.

Not to mention these are all Storme’s possessions, I’m sure some are historical treasures near and dear to our community. Again, aside from the personal attachment Storme has for the items, the historical importance could be very significant.

As Storme herself stated “When you get old, they try to put you in a home. That’s a hell of a thing to do to somebody just because they’re old. I wouldn’t do that to a dog.”