the graying of gays
As the generation of gay men and lesbians who came out in the 1960s and ’70s reaches retirement age, about a dozen specialized senior developments across the country are either up and running or in the works.In such senior-heavy locales as California, Arizona and Florida, as well as less traditionally gay-friendly places like North Carolina and Texas, builders have found a market in a segment of the gay population that worries getting old will mean going back in the closet.
Besides personal safety, specialists in gay aging issues offer other reasons why the so-called Stonewall Generation, named for the 1969 New York riots that marked the beginning of the modern gay movement, needs and craves places of its own to retire.
“There is a real sense of disenfranchisement and also a sense of independence, of ‘I don’t want to be dependent on family, I want to be dependent on community,’” said Judy Dlugacz, founder of the San Francisco-based lesbian travel company Olivia Cruises and Resorts.
Olivia is currently scouting land in the Palm Springs area for what Dlugacz hopes will be the first of several high-end resort communities geared toward mature lesbians who are looking either for a vacation home or a place to retire.
“In a retirement community, you want to be with people of like minds and like interests, whether it’s a golf community or a religious community,” said Bonnie McGowan, who is spearheading Birds of a Feather, a gay senior complex in New Mexico. “Until I feel safe walking down the street holding a woman’s hand … and not feel like I’m going to offend even one person, there is a need for this.”
At Rainbow Vision, a just-completed senior community in Santa Fe, N.M. a private dining room is named after Truman Capote and ’60s teen icon Lesley “It’s My Party” Gore was scheduled to appear this weekend. Everything about the 146-unit retirement village was designed with the comfort of graying gays and lesbians in mind.