LGBTQ+ Older Adults Find Safe Spaces at Senior Centers

“I think it’s opening the doors because we’re so welcoming here,” says Dianne Kane, director of the center in Yarmouth.

Here are seven examples of how older adult organizations are integrating LGBTQ+ activities into their programs.

Cape Cod LGBTQ+ Senior Friends

Cape Cod LGBTQ+ Senior Friends meets monthly for meals and programs at the Yarmouth center and draws 25 to 35 people a month, says Marie Seufert.

Tony Luong

Marie Seufert, 76, had been involved with LGBTQ+ groups at other centers when she started a Yarmouth social group in 2023. It now meets monthly for meals and programs at the Yarmouth center and draws 25 to 35 people a month, she says. Although the group is independent, the center supports it by providing space and publicity. Seufert, a Yarmouth resident, says the social group recently organized as a 501c (3) under the name Cape Cod LGBTQ+ Senior Friends and has its own board and funding that she hopes will carry it beyond the original group of founders. The group hopes to expand to other senior centers but not be dependent on center staffing and funding.

“We want this to be something that’s sustainable,” Seufert says. Its gatherings are a place where Seufert feels she can be her real self. “When you’re just with each other, socializing, and being together, and going on trips together, and doing those things, you’re totally free,” she says.

St. Louis Area Agency on Aging

When Anneliese Stoever was hired by the St. Louis Area Agency on Aging in 2005, there was no programming for LGBTQ+ older adults. Since then, the agency’s efforts have included collaborating with organizations such as SAGE on training and also sharing information with organizations throughout the state.

Stoever says she has learned that if an LGBTQ+ person needs resources, she needs to connect them with a known affirming and welcoming space. One center, for example, started a group for people with grandchildren who identified as LGBTQ+. “[The director] said that that became a welcoming and safe space for those grandparents to support each other,” says Stoever. The director also found the support group encouraged LGBTQ+ older adults to consider the center a safe space, she says.

Center in the Park’s Pride in the Park

Center in the Park’s programming includes the Pride in the Park fair and connecting LGBTQ+ residents with local resources.

Courtesy Center in the Park

This nonprofit center in northwest Philadelphia serves people 55-plus with programs ranging from diabetes management to pottery and Spanish language classes, says director Cleo Smalls. Center in the Park’s staff has had SAGE training. A collaboration with the local LGBT Elder Initiative has morphed into other events, including the annual Pride in the Park fair, and helps connect LGBTQ+ residents with local resources. Last summer, the center ran an LGBTQ+ book club and hosted a film series, Fifth Friday Films with Pride.

Smalls has some advice for other senior centers that want to welcome a diverse clientele: “I would say … outreach for any diversity, just making sure your staff and your board represents the population that you’re trying to attract.” 

Madison Senior Center

LGBTQ+ programming at the city-supported Madison Senior Center in Wisconsin began around 2000, after the senior center director and the director of the city’s OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center sat next to each other at a meeting, says Laura Hunt, the senior center’s older adult program and outreach coordinator. The result was the LGBTQ 50+ Alliance, which began a discussion group at the senior center, now called Gay, Gray, and Beyond. The group meets twice a month and adjourns to a local coffee shop for treats, so the program is low-cost for the center.

The volunteer facilitator, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, suggests topics if necessary and keeps discussions on track, Hunt says. “She doesn’t always present her prompt because a lot of times, people have their own things that they want to discuss.” Hunt isn’t sure whether the programming has brought more LGBTQ+ clients to the center but believes it has made people more comfortable to be open about their lives.

Mill Race Center

The Mill Race Center in Columbus, Indiana, was the first senior center in the state, founded in 1956, says Dan Mustard, the center’s executive director. He says the center’s LGBTQ+ outreach began when the city’s largest employer, the diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Inc., made benefits available to same-sex partners.

“That started a conversation in Columbus to kind of say, ‘OK, we need to make sure that we’re welcoming to a really diverse population,’ ” Mustard says. The company offered its LGBTQ+ engagement training program, which is based on mutual respect, to the senior center staff, Mustard says. In turn, the center began SAGE Table, an initiative started by the New York organization that brings together older adults who identify as LGBTQ+ and their allies for food and conversation.

The group started before the 2020 pandemic and is still going, Mustard says. But, he says, the center’s emphasis has shifted from specific LGBTQ+ programming to making sure everyone feels welcome throughout the building. “I would say it was more about just eliminating barriers so that people could feel free to access everything that we offer in a safe environment,” he says.

Elder Pride Services at Friendly House

Elder Pride Services at Friendly House in Portland, Oregon, has its own staff and programming. Programs include social and educational activities.

Rebecca Blair, Friendly House

Friendly House in Portland, Oregon, is a nonprofit community center that serves as northwest Portland’s senior center. Its robust LGBTQ+ program, Elder Pride Services, has been operating for more than 20 years and has its own staff and programming (both in-person and virtual). Programs include social and educational activities, housing advice, advocacy, case management, legal support, counseling, speakers who visit senior communities and other organizations and, last year, a winter dance. The program also opened the state’s first affordable housing community for LGBTQ+ older adults, says Brandy Penner, former program manager of Elder Pride Services. Programs are free, she says.

“We always try to provide snacks, some kind of nutritional support at our events as well, because the vast majority of folks we’re serving are low- to very-low-income earners. Combating isolation and connecting people’s community is sort of our guiding star that everything else we do revolves around,” she said during an interview prior to her departure from Friendly House.

Ruth Szilagyi, 75, of Portland, first got involved with Elder Pride Services volunteering in the housing advocacy program. Now, she says, the activities keep her engaged, and the advocacy work gives her a sense of purpose. “I think the connection is important — that we continue to interact with other people — and the volunteering offers a way for us to be making a difference,” she says. 

OutstandingLife

OutstandingLife grew out of efforts in Boston during the pandemic to lessen isolation in the LGBTQ+ community, says David Aronstein, a board member and founder.

Tony Luong

This online resource for LGBTQ+ older adults grew out of efforts in Boston during the pandemic to lessen isolation in the community, says David Aronstein, a board member and founder.

“Elders have always been at risk for feeling lonely and being isolated. That’s particularly more prevalent, I think, in LGBTQ older folks because not everybody has children, or they may be estranged from their family,” he says.

It has more than 500 members and is open to elders no matter where they live. Outstandinglife.org offers virtual programming such as monthly advocacy hour with LGBTQ+ leaders and advocates, caregiver support, a transgender support group and monthly game and social nights.

“There’s no one size fits all,” Aronstein says, noting some people don’t have a computer. “We’re working to expand our reach and to reach more elders and to kind of … make LGBT programming a regular part of senior centers’ activities.”

Editor’s note: This article originally published Nov. 25, 2024. It has been updated to reflect additional information.