For SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders), things have never been busier.

With the first generation of baby boomers now reaching retirement, the ranks of Americans 65 and older will swell from 12 percent of the population to 20 percent over the next 25 years. LGBT people are estimated to represent between six and eight percent of all seniors in the country ­ 2.8 million strong and growing.

For 30 years SAGE has helped LGBT seniors face the typical challenges of aging as well as the unique twists for older people whose lives and sexuality do not fit into the traditional heterosexual cookie mold. For example, the research shows that LGBT seniors are:

* twice as likely to live alone as other seniors
* half as likely to have a partner
* four times more likely to have no children to help out
* and 50 percent more likely to have no close relatives to call for help when
needed.

These challenges are compounded by the discrimination that LGBT older people too often face when attempting to take advantage of senior services. Unfortunately, the stories are legion of home care attendants haranguing LGBT seniors about their “lifestyle,” senior facilities making it clear that it’s time to get back into the closet, and more. These experiences of discrimination discourage many LGBT seniors from seeking out the services they need.

SAGE and organizations like us exist to help LGBT older people address these challenges.

For example, at SAGE we have “friendly visitors” ­ volunteers who make sure that homebound seniors have the support they need. SAGE’s volunteer caregivers program makes sure that friends, neighbors and loved ones have the resources to “be there” for an LGBT older person. From a “friendly visit” to helping a senior get an air conditioner and lugging it up the steps of a four story walk-up, we are here for our clients. From individual therapy and support to groups for grieving partners or men over 50 with HIV/AIDS, we are here.

And we work with mainstream senior providers to help them become welcoming places for LGBT older people. Our October conference, aptly entitled “It’s About Time,” will provide an opportunity for hundreds of seniors learn more about what resources exist for them and give those who provide services to seniors how to create more welcoming environments for their clients and patients.

It’s about time, indeed.

One thing is for certain – the landscape is changing fast. History tells part of the story. Current generations of LGBT seniors came of age in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, decades when LGBT people faced extraordinary hostility, rampant violence and outrageous government-sponsored bigotry. Their life experiences were shaped by these realities.

As a result, some are less open about their sexuality and have learned to “work around” discrimination rather than confronting it head-on – ­ for many years to do anything else was literally life-threatening.

By contrast, the newest generation of LGBT older people came of age during the emergence of a vibrant and powerful “gay rights” movement. Pride parades and rainbow flags have gradually overtaken police raids and bashings (though much work remains to be done). Coming out and refusing to tolerate inequality are the sine qua non of LGBT life for many of those who are now reaching their golden years.

So what will the emergence of newly empowered generations of LGBT older people mean for our community, and for an aging country and world?

While we don’t yet have all the answers to those questions, at SAGE we’re excited about the potential for a more powerful voice for LGBT older people. It will become harder and harder to keep the needs of LGBT seniors off the table.

Even the Bush Administration had to cede a little territory at the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, when SAGE was admitted as the first official LGBT delegate in the Conference’s history.

We’ll see new marketplace opportunities for LGBT older people (the slow rise of LGBT retirement communities is just one example). And we’ll see more “in your face” tactics like lawsuits. The ACLU recently filed one on behalf of several older lesbians in New Mexico who retired from their state jobs only to discover that their partners couldn¹t receive the same retirement benefits as the spouses of their heterosexual co-workers.

It’s a brave new world out there for LGBT older people. We can’t predict exactly what it will look like. But at SAGE we’re betting that we’ll be breaking down a lot of barriers as we age. So as an iconic aging screen idol once said, fasten your seatbelts!

Michael Adams is the Executive Director of SAGE. For more information, go to
www.sageusa.org