Older adults in the LGBTQ community are more likely than other seniors to experience isolation, advocates say.
They are four times less likely to have children, twice as likely to live alone, and twice as likely to be single, according to a 2011 national health study co-authored by the Center for American Progress and Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders.
That reality heightens the importance of having a supportive community, and Southern Arizona Senior Pride works to help provide it.
In 2021, for instance, its Community Cares Program made 1,195 individual visits to isolated, homebound, and disabled community members, helping people to connect and feel connected.
Part of healthy aging is having companionship, gatherings and affirmations of who you are, said Southern Arizona Senior Pride board secretary and longtime volunteer Joyce Bolinger.
“You can’t survive without community,” Bolinger said.
Senior Pride also creates a safe space for LGBTQ older adults to be their real selves, its leaders say.
Being out of the closet is a process that some LGBTQ older adults are still undergoing, advocates point out. They grew up in different times when being homosexual was a crime or was said to be related to some sort of mental illness, they note.
“Being a homosexual was a big deep dark secret that you didn’t tell anyone,” said Robert Bell, Southern Arizona Senior Pride board vice-chair and longtime volunteer. “It just was too dangerous to be real, to tell people who you really were.”
For Erin Russ, coordinator of Senior Pride’s advance medical care planning program, Senior Pride is a place where she can recharge and talk to people who understand and support her struggles.
“Being out and living authentically makes a big difference,” Russ said.
Southern Arizona Senior Pride previously did grassroots volunteer activities under the auspices of Wingspan, a community center that served the LGBT senior community. After Wingspan’s closure in 2014, Senior Pride stepped up and continued the mission of building community for LGBTQ older adults.
In partnership with Pima Council on Aging, Interfaith Community Services, Southern Arizona Gender Alliance and Elder Alliance, Senior Pride offers programs that encourage social interaction, education, fun, cultural appreciation and identity.
From cultural events and workshops to social gatherings and support groups, Senior Pride says it provides social solutions in a safe environment for LGBTQ individuals to share their stories, losses and grief. It also has monthly gatherings in Himmel Park.
Its wide range of programs — health and wellbeing, social and learning, and arts and culture — work to empower LGBTQ seniors.
“We share the history, we share our stories, we share the trauma and we share the pride,” said executive director and longtime volunteer Lavina Tomer.
As board chair and volunteer Bruce Hyland put it: “(We’re) still fighting the good fight out there.”
