As We Get Older…

Many of the elder LGBT people have fought all their life for equality and as they grow older they are still pioneering new territories.

Here’s a Bold New Strategy for Solving the Elderly LGBT Housing CrisisAdvocacy groups, in partnership with the federal government, launch a bold national initiative to provide housing—and security—to the growing population of LGBT senior citizens.Takepart
By Remy Tumin
February 04, 2015

Last spring, Smith, 69, turned to the Center on Halsted, one of Chicago’s largest facilities for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. She signed up for a housing lottery and in September was awarded a subsidized $230-a-month studio apartment in a Center on Halsted housing development built primarily for LGBT senior citizens. “I find myself very fortunate to have found a place where I don’t have to go back into the closet,” says Smith, who works as an usher at a theater near her home. “The ability to be who I am, to live with dignity...I can’t begin to emphasize how much that means.”
[…]
Housing remains a key element in the country’s economic crisis. But so far, there’s been relatively little national conversation about the housing crisis’ impact on the first generation of openly LGBT senior citizens. This is no small matter. The current population of 1.5 million LGBT seniors is projected to double by 2030. LGBT people face high rates of unemployment, poverty, mental illness, and isolation, partly related to persistent homophobia. Nearly 48 percent of older same-sex couples report experiencing discrimination while inquiring about housing in senior living facilities, in some cases receiving less information about available units or getting quoted higher fees.

Some people ask, why special housing for LGBT seniors? For many LGBT it is not necessary but for other it is vital. Last month I went to a LGBT Coffee House and for one senior gay couple there it was the first time that they have been out of their apartment. Another senior said, that all her friends are gone and there are not many places where gay people of a certain age can get together to socialize. She went on to say that she has straight friends but sometimes I went to be with people who are like me. While for some it is the safety that an senior LGBT community provides, they don’t have to worry about homophobia or transphobia.

However, for us older trans people it is even hard to socialize with other trans people because we are so few.