When I'm Old and Gay - The Amerin Prospect

Contents:

• WHEN I'M OLD AND GAY
• OPENLY GAY – 65 YEARS APART
• THEY LIVED A 'DOUBLE LIFE' FOR S. NOW, THE GAY ELRS ARE TELLG THEIR STORI.
• GAY RIGHTS
• GAY MEN AND AGG
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR AGG
• THE GAY 60'S, 70'S, 80'S AND 90'S
• THE GAY MAN'S GUI TO DATG AFTER 50

WHEN I'M OLD AND GAY

A planned rintial muny for olr gay men, lbians, and transgenred people, "the Cove" was then an empty 165-acre plot 20 outsi of Boone, a small universy town the Blue Ridge Mountas. The gay retirement villas sproutg up at the turn of the lennium were far more mercial-and planned-than those early "gayborhoods, " but at a basic level what they offered was siar: sulatn om prejudice, plac where queer people were ee to be queer.

Wh the baby-boomer generatn on the cp of retirement and the enomy chuggg along at full speed, gay and lbian entreprenrs saw an opportuny to create retreats for people like themselv and sh on the emergg market of 1.

OPENLY GAY – 65 YEARS APART

Thirty years om now, given the dramatic rise public support for gay rights, queer retire will be able to take for granted that they will be accepted and unrstood any retirement settg. In June, the Supreme Court stck down the Defense of Marriage Act, puttg some gay upl on equal legal footg wh straight upl for the first time, but that's ltle help to olr gay upl who have missed out on s' worth of tax and surance those factors leave queer senrs wh fewer retirement optns than their straight unterparts. 's lol outreach director for SAGE (Servic and Advocy for GLBT Elrs), the untry's largt advocy anizatn for olr gay folk, Woody nducts sensivy trag for nursg-home staff and nnects low-e elrly wh public hog and HIV/AIDS servic.

"I worked five nursg hom over 27 years, and I only enuntered one man-only one-who was openly gay, " says Mary Blanchett, a licensed nursg-home admistrator who formerly ran a group that helps gay senrs plan for retirement. "Accurate data about olr gay people's liv are hard to e by, partly bee while feral law requir elrre stutns to report statistics on other groups of mory rints, that's not the se wh queer folk. Conservative Christian rints and staffers, ncerned for gay people's mortal souls, openly pray for them to leave the "homosexual liftyle" or actively try to nvert their own hom, LGBT senrs often fear mistreatment at the hands of home health-re workers if they're open about themselv.

C., a social club for olr gay and bisexual men, says group members joke about the need to "-gay" the hoe-queer perdils like The Advote go at the bottom of the stack, pictur of a same-sex partner are moved to an isolated room. Ageism is prevalent among gay men-the joke is that you're ad at 30-and fuels the lonels that often acpani old Timers, like other social groups for olr gays, is signed to be an antidote to that lonels. Some are not out broar society, but the group's weekly meetgs provi a pot of ntact wh the gay muny, a place to make iends, fd lovers, and trend toward agg place is reflected an creasg mand for retirement optns the urban centers that are the heart of gay culture.

THEY LIVED A 'DOUBLE LIFE' FOR S. NOW, THE GAY ELRS ARE TELLG THEIR STORI.

While all of the velopments are for low-e people, Kilbourn says Openhoe hop to break ground on middle-class plex the wh the new velopments, however, few gay retire will have the optn of livg an all-gay environment.

For members of the Stonewall generatn, 's a btersweet irony: While old age is ght wh difficulti, they have laid the groundwork for retirement to ultimately be jt as gay-iendly as the streets of Chelsea. This “chat across the ag” featur openly gay 13 year-old Louis and openly gay 78 year-old Percy who have a chat about the differenc 50 years have ma on gay culture and acceptance. At the end of the chat, Louis asks for wisdom for future LGBTs, to which Percy shar, “Stand up for beg gay, and for actually tryg to make people unrstand that the most important thg is that you n love somebody and don’t matter who they are.

Ma llaboratn wh London Pri and BBC2 wh their new documentary ‘Agast The Law’ which will be released at the end of "chat across the ag" featur openly gay 13 year-old Louis and openly gay 78 year-old Percy who have a chat about the differenc 50 years have ma on gay culture and acceptance. ”At the end of the chat, Louis asks for wisdom for future LGBTs, to which Percy shar, “Stand up for beg gay, and for actually tryg to make people unrstand that the most important thg is that you n love somebody and don’t matter who they are. ”“What bothered me the most was havg to talk to the guys that were beg discharged, and they were not a good state of wellns anyway, bee at that time, was illegal or nsired mental problems to be gay, ” he Cunngham, 82, and Richard Prtt, 78, have llectively spent 115 years the closet.

GAY RIGHTS

The Amerin Psychiatric Associatn also classified homosexualy as a mental disorr the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs until 1973, when that classifitn was replaced wh “sexual orientatn disturbance.

Rearch published the journal The Gerontologist last fall found that lbian, gay and bisexual people have a higher risk of mentia and gnive cle than heterosexual people as they grow olr. The study’s thors found that the creased risk was partially due to higher rat of prsn that olr LGBTQ people experience due to workplace discrimatn, shame and other stigma associated wh their stigma still persists, but the elrs and producers behd “Not Another Send” hope their project n help, even if jt a small Cooper lived her whole life as an openly gay woman New York Cy.

GAY MEN AND AGG

The Early Gay Rights Movement In 1924, Henry Gerber, a German immigrant, found Chigo the Society for Human Rights, the first documented gay rights anizatn the Uned Stat. Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group ’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter.

Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels. Addnally, 1948, his book Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey proposed that male sexual orientatn li on a ntuum between exclively homosexual to exclively Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group.

”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze. Post Office, which 1954 clared the magaze “obscene” and refed to liver Mattache Society Mattache Foundatn members rtctured the anizatn to form the Mattache Society, which had lol chapters other parts of the untry and 1955 began publishg the untry’s send gay publitn, The Mattache Review. That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr followg year, Print Dwight D.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR AGG

In 1961, Illois beme the first state to do away wh s anti-sodomy laws, effectively crimalizg homosexualy, and a lol TV statn California aired the first documentary about homosexualy, lled The 1965, Dr.

THE GAY 60'S, 70'S, 80'S AND 90'S

”In fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue. They were nied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Juli, rultg much publicy and the quick reversal of the anti-gay liquor Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn.

After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village. " This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad. ”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement.

THE GAY MAN'S GUI TO DATG AFTER 50

Johnson is seen at a Gay Liberatn Front monstratn at Cy Hall New York, a large crowd memorat the 2nd anniversary of the Stonewall rts Greenwich Village of New York Cy 1971. 1 / 12: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagChristopher Street Liberatn Day Shortly after the Stonewall uprisg, members of the Mattache Society spl off to form the Gay Liberatn Front, a radil group that lnched public monstratns, protts and nontatns wh polil officials. Siar groups followed, cludg the Gay Activists Alliance, Radilbians, and Street Transvt Actn Revolutnari (STAR) 1970, at the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, New York Cy muny members marched through lol streets memoratn of the event.

Activists also turned the once-disreputable Pk Triangle to a symbol of gay Polil Victori The creased visibily and activism of LGBTQ dividuals the 1970s helped the movement make progrs on multiple onts. Addnally, several openly LGBTQ dividuals secured public office posns: Kathy Kozachenko won a seat to the Ann Harbor, Michigan, Cy Council 1974, beg the first out Amerin to be elected to public Milk, who mpaigned on a pro-gay rights platform, beme the San Francis cy supervisor 1978, beg the first openly gay man elected to a polil office asked Gilbert Baker, an artist and gay rights activist, to create an emblem that reprents the movement and would be seen as a symbol of pri.