Home Sweet Home for LGBT Seniors

Two new affordable housing complexes are slated for construction in New York City, each designed to cater to the needs of the aging LGBT population. The 227 studios and one-bedroom units spread across two buildings in Brooklyn and the Bronx constitute the first housing in the city flagged specifically for low-income LGBT seniors age 62 and older.

Advocates contend that the needs of the graying LGBT population are given short shrift, despite that demographic’s central place in the decades-long process of agitating for recognition and rights. “[They are] our pioneers, the people who created the LGBT communities we have, [and] paved the way for the equality that we have been able to win,” said Michael Adams, the CEO of Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Elders (SAGE), at a press conference Thursday. But Adams added that some elderly members of the LGBT community feel persecuted or afraid to be “out” in their later years. “Many feel compelled to go back into the closet later in life in order to avoid mistreatment,” he said.