Rainbows End

Article first published as Retirement at Rainbows End? on Technorati. 

The sunset is falling on gay and lesbian retirement complex, forgotten victims of recession, from Jason Shaw.

The hopes of spending their twilight years in peaceful tranquility and security are fading faster than a Pacific sunset for many gay couples in Santa Fee, New Mexico, as the all gay and lesbian retirement community RainbowVision filed bankruptcy protection. Proving even the pink dollars are not immune from recession and the economic downturn, writes Jason Shaw.

RainbowVision was supposed to be a wonderful trailblazing open, respectful, secure and high quality retirement community especially for gay and lesbian people.  It opened in a blaze of glory in 2006 and was one of the first retirement communities especially for gays and lesbians. RainbowVision claimed to offer elegancy and security and above all acceptance for gay and lesbian couples, that is hard to find in other, more traditional retirement communities.

Many older gay people, often termed The Stonewall generation, as they are the first ‘out’ openly gay  cluster of senior citizens rushed to sign up and buy into such communities as RainbowVision.  And who can blame them, we all want a peaceful retirement, these folk simply wanted a place where they could spend the rest of their days in dignity, in security, made to feel welcome and where they could be free to be themselves and not herded back into the closet.

However such dreams are in tatters now as RainbowVision has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.   The group has been stifled by vast financial problems, then there was a stingingly bad an bitter dispute between the management and residents. So much for the happy and peaceful retirement, they had sought.

Yet, the situation of RainbowVision is not unique, nope not at all, many other gay and lesbian retirement communities are facing a similar fate, a Sarasota retirement complex has also filed  for bankruptcy protections.  These are hard times indeed, whilst some of  these safe enclaves of retirees  are in dire financial straits, others, for example those  in Austin, Boston and Phoenix have failed to even open at all.

“It’s very concerning to see places like RainbowVision having trouble, both because older people need them and because they’re an important community institution,” claims Michael Adams, the executive director of Services and Advocacy for G.L.B.T. Elders or SAGE for short.  They’ve been campaigning hard for a long time for better housing provisions for older gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members of society.  A rather frequently forgotten and somewhat abused sector of society, in 2010 report by SAGE  found that traditional nursing homes often failed to protect gay men and lesbians from hostile treatment by staff or other patients.  Furthermore a study released in April by the National Senior Citizens Law Center, told how many older gay men and lesbians and their family members reported instances of mistreatment at long-term care center. The study claimed that many social service providers advised it was unsafe for residents to be ‘out’ in such facilities.  For elderly gay and lesbians there is also the realization that many do not have the support, either emotional or financial, that straight elders take for granted from family and extended family members.  Gay and lesbian seniors are twice as likely to live alone in the USA according to SAGE, whilst in the UK that number is estimated to be three times as likely.

 Lower property prices caused by the global recession, little reserves, mismanagement, lack of investment all play their part in this downfall of exclusively gay and lesbian retirement communities. However,  just as the global economic situation continues to look precarious so to does the long term fate of these elderly forgotten victims of recession.

Read more: http://technorati.com/business/finance/article/retirement-at-rainbows-end/page-2/#ixzz1cI5ccVsQ