Ruthie Berman shares her epic, decades-long love story with her wife, Connie Kurtz. She talks about how they fell in love in the 1970s, successfully sued the New York City Board of Education for domestic partner benefits in 1988, and reflects on how much has and hasn't changed for LGBTQ+ people since she came out 50 years ago.

"I deserve better in my golden years than what I have now. The world sucks. America is in the worst place in my history that it's ever been and I'm concerned about my community."

This is part of our new LGBTQ+ Elders Project. You can also listen to our recent interview with Harvey Fierstein here.

Ruthie Berman was born in 1934.

The full video of Ruthie and Connie's appearance on The Phil Donahue Show can be seen on our Instagram page here: @jeffmasters1

Ruthie And Conne: Every Room In The House is a fantastic documentary (streaming for free on Vudu) that you can watch.

LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website in the afternoon. Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod