Articles
Lesbian & Gay Retirement Communities
Print
Email
Comments (11)
In 1969, the Stonewall Riots saw Manhattan’s West Village engulfed in brutality—and many historians mark the events as the beginning of the gay rights movement in the United States. And it was in November of 1978 that Harvey Milk, the San Francisco gay rights advocate, was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone. The ensuing White Night Riots were also a marker of the changes taking place as members of the gay community made their voices heard. Many of the men and women who marched and fought in these demonstrations are now seeing silver hairs on their heads and wondering where they will be spending their retirement years. And, it seems these seniors are carving out a niche for themselves in retirement the same way they had to in society decades ago—by building communities in which to support and nurture each other.
Here in the Bay Area this new trend in senior housing is being celebrated with last week’s opening of the Barbary Lane Communities at Lake Merritt in Oakland. The independent living community is one of a handful that is geared towards the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. In many ways it is no surprise that the progressive and welcoming Bay Area is one of the handful of locations to house such a community; however, many more are popping up all over America, including some decidedly “red” states.
Gay seniors often face certain issues more commonly than their straight counterparts. Namely, members of the LGBT community are less likely to have adult children to care for them. There is also the issue that some have been ostracized by family members, meaning that overseeing and planning for their care sits squarely on their own shoulders. Also many states, counties or cities do not have domestic partner laws, ensuring gay couples face more red tape in securing benefits for their partners. Even in the gay community, senior-related issues are still relatively unexamined as gay rights efforts have traditionally been youth focused.
Perhaps most importantly, the value of these communities is exactly the same as any type of senior housing—it comes down to making a place where people feel welcome and happy to live. Many in the LGBT community feel that their golden years is no time to be crawling back into the proverbial closet, which many feel is what would happen if they lived in any other type of community. And, living in a place where specific needs and life experiences will be understood is important to all seniors regardless of sexual orientation.
The first LGBT communities were built in the late 1990s and the industry is still nascent. These communities offer independent living and occasionally assisted living, but very few also have skilled nursing care. In the LGBT senior housing market there are a few development companies, such as RainbowVision, but some larger companies known already in the long-term care industry have now joined in. Aegis Senior Living, a well-known West Coast assisted living management company, is currently building a LGBT senior community in Santa Rosa, California. All these companies hope to tap into a market whose potential hasn’t been fully explored. The majority of LGBT senior communities are clustered in states such as Arizona, New Mexico and Florida. Boston, Los Angeles, New York and Palm Springs also are popular sites. (Across the pond, LGBT retirement communities have sprung up in both Amsterdam and Stockholm.) As the long-term care industry grows it should be prove interesting to watch how these communities expand and hopefully flourish.
And that’s just some of what is new,
Lara Belonogoff
Posted in: Aging, Assisted Living, LGBT Senior Housing, Senior Trends
you make the point you think lgbt-ers should be happy in these communities so they can be openly gay, but isn’t this a case of separating them from society in someway?
As was stated in an article in the Grand Lake Guardian regarding the opening of the Barbary Lane Communities at Lake Merritt:
Latina[president of the community] emphasized that seniors in Barbary Lane would not be isolated or cut off from the larger community. “The door swings both ways,” Latina said.
I think giving people an environment where they feel safe and cared for is not in anyway pushing them into a situation where they are pushed out from society.
I understand your comment, but in fact at RainbowVision Santa Fe our members are anything but separated. We are an open, accepting community where anyone can live. Therefore we are proud to have many members from diverse backgrounds. But, to your point…. We have GLBT members who have suffered abuse at “mainstream” communities, in some progressive markets that would suprise you. In other communities same sex couples may not be allowed to live in the same bedroom. At RainbowVision everyone is encouraged to live life to fullest in a safe and completely secure environment with respect for individual rights.
In NY I read that caregivers in facilities receive racial or ethnic training about 65% of the time, but only 13% have any sexual orientation sensitivity training. So until we know that openly gay people, let alone transgendered individuals, will be treated the same in facilities as straight people why should we place them there?!
I have been tracking the growth in the nmber of gay retirement communites and retirement services on my website for the past 10 years (from where I presume Lara obtained her information - see http://www.graygay.com/index.html?links_retire.htm).
Numerous studies have shown that most retirement community residents and staff are at worst vehmently anti-gay or just completely lacking in understanding or sensitivity (in part due to lack of training).
There have also been cases where local laws have been passed to prevent the siting of gay retiremnt communites - so nothing changes - even when you get old!
But by 2020, an estimated 25% of the gay community is going to be aged over 60 so the demand is going to go up. It’s not just for residential communites - home care services will be needed too - although the difficulty of finding suitably trained staff at an economic rate remains.
Regards
Paul
Editor, GrayGay.com
As a licensed RCFE Administrator I have seen first hand several cases of discrimination of LGBT people in senior housing communities, even here in the Bay area.
We are pleased to be the first communitiy to embrace the LGBT senior population with open doors that swing both ways, meaning our community will not be a place of isolation, but involve and invite the public into our community. In fact, our dining room will be open for lunch to the public.
For questions or information visit http://www.barbarylanesenior.com
Paul,
It is interesting that a movement that has been in the making since the late 1990s—in this case LGBT retirement communities—does not have more mainstream press, but during my research for this posting I was surprised by how much more “online” LGBT retirement issues were. Gay Business World.com has an entire section on retirement. The Advocate has numerous stories, both personal and in a larger context, covering retirement issues. This subject has also been picked up by larger news organizations like USA Today and the Dallas Morning News in just this last year. And as to writing on the subject I feel that the more people really *is* the merrier as it needs to enter the political and social consciousness of all Americans so that changes can be made—and more importantly so more facilities are built.
Lara
I should have also added that there is a chronic shortage in the UK (where I am based) in that we don’t even have one gay retirement community and only 10 gay senior support groups around the country (but over gay 100 youth groups!).
It’s strange that the mainstream media seems to be more interested in gay retirement issues than the gay media that, with a few exceptions,still seems to pretend that everyone is 18-30 and that the older
generation don’t exist.
Also very few local or national government agencies or elder support charities seem to be interested or involved in gay senior issues.
Finally there are the gay lobby groups that for years have been campaigning for equal rights and lowering the age of consent - but now that we have gay civil partnerships in the UK and a reduced age of consent - they don’t seem that interested in switching their considerable funds to help the very people who started the gay rights movement.
Paul
GrayGay.com
Paul, It doesn’t surprise me that there are no LGBT Senior Communities in the UK. Here in San Francisco, advocates for LGBT Seniors, such as our friends and colleagues at Open House (www.openhouse-sf.org) have been working hard for over 8 years to bring an LGBT Senior Housing Community to one of the most out and open cities in the world. It is a huge challenge and despite our 45 years of combined development and operations experience, it took us almost three years to launch our first Barbary Lane Community here in the Bay Area.
In the US alone there are currently estimated to be almost 3 million LGBT Seniors. By 2010 that number is expected to grow to 10 million.
I would be happy to further discuss with you any opportunities to bring our LGBT Senior Housing model to the UK. Currently we are planning four more communities in urban cities throughout California and a fifth in New York City. We certainly would be interested in helping to increase housing options for LGBT Seniors in the UK, whether by bringing Barbary Lane Communities to the UK or by sharing our Senior Housing development and operations experience. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if we can be of help.
Dave Latina, President and co-founder
Barbary Lane Senior Communities
[…] A few weeks ago I wrote about LGBT retirement communities springing up all over the country. One of the issues I found was how older LGBT couples often face challenges that straight ones do not. For example, a person who marched in the Stonewall riots and was out of the closet at that point is less likely to have been accepted by family members and more likely to have surrogate “families” made up of friends—many of whom were torn apart by the onslaught of AIDS. With little family to help them now, these men and women often do not have anyone to act as a family caregiver. But could gay adoption change the retirement landscape? […]
[…] The Gilbert Guide is a comprehensive resource guide for quality long-term care facilities and services. The San Francisco Chronicle dubbed it the Zagat guide for long-term care so it’s fitting that they have something to say about gay and lesbian retirement communities. We have reprinted it here with their permission. […]