It means that planning for retirement has to provide for a basement for a friendly and tolerant society as we grow old. Most of the seniors in the LGBTQ+ community will not feel comfortable and welcome with most retirement homes or the setting of these homes is not culturally sensitive. This is however more so especially for lesbians who indeed undergo circumstances as well as potentials that are specific to them especially as they age. This brings lesbian retirement communities – places deemed safe, welcoming and lesbian affirmative. These communities are on the rise for a number of other reasons, and helping to redefine what ‘a graceful ageing process’ means for lesbian seniors.
Traditionally, integrated conventional retirement communities have not embraced the elderly in the LGBTQ+ community. Some of the elders in these homes have had to ‘closet’ themselves for fear of going through the discrimination or even being thrown out by staff or fellow residents. Such exclusion results in hopelessness, depression and a relatively poor quality of life.
Lesbian retirement communities respond to this problem directly. They dig out a place in which people with such experiences can live their lives with the kind of persons they want to surround themselves with. Mainly, it creates people’s feeling ‘I belong,’ a feeling of inclusion essential for someone’s mental and emotional health.
In particular, friendship and chosen families are quite important to lesbians, it seems. As earlier pointed out, most of the lesbian retirement communities are intended to promote such relationships by providing residential units, activities, and programs that are based on the lesbians’ interests. These spaces do not simply offer hall and house, but create a structure wherein people can grow with each other’s support.
These experiences include book clubs, activities as wellness and anything that can be done collectively resulting in companionship. For the many seniors who too often suffer from isolation, these communities are a lifeline.
Amenities and services that support this are that policy has a predesign that allows provision of specific amenities to fit the clients needs.
The lesbian retirement homes sometimes offer services, and facilities that meet the specific needs of the residents. LGBTQ+ consummate healthcare professionals all the way to workshops counseling legal and financial issues that touch on members of this minority are all provided by these health centers and are potentially unseen or neglected in most general facility.
They also provide cultural activities that the residents can relate with such as the pride events, movies among others and guest speaker from the LGBTQ+ demographic. It is not only also fulfilling to people’s daily need but also strengthening the people’s sense of belonging and pride to the communities.
These communities also address the misperceptions of aging especially for the LGBTQ+ women. As people aging, we may erase their sexuality, or fail to recognize diverse sexual orientations and gender identities; American retirement communities offer a positive resistant narrative. They cherish differences, personality and talents of the inhabitants they serve so that one can get to enjoy their sunset seasons of life.
elderly people can enjoy their later years in garden homes where they do not have to hide their sexual orientation.
This is especially liberating for lesbian seniors who for decades have had very limited opportunities to grow old within a community that accepts them as they are. Lesbian retirement communities are more than a home, they are a statement that as lesbians in the world we matter, regardless of age. In as much as these spaces are on the rise, they brought a new flavor to how seniors can age with dignity, pride and joy.
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