Aging gay population fuels new housing market

Sense of community
Along with second chances — Silver is planning to throw a prom party “for those of us who didn’t go to senior prom with the person we wanted to” — Rainbow Vision was designed to foster a sense of immediate belonging.

The fitness center was named after lesbian tennis pioneer Billie Jean King, for example, while services for those requiring ongoing medical care reflect lessons learned from the AIDS crisis. The 26 rented assisted living units comprise a section of the complex called The Castro, after the San Francisco neighborhood that has long been a center of gay culture.

“Just as we have set the trends in music and fashion, (gays and lesbians) will be setting trends for the redefinition of family and community,” Silver said.

Steven David, a postdoctoral psychology fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles who counsels and researches older gay men, said the concept of gay senior housing gets mixed reviews from his clients. He has spoken to some who think living in a gay environment sounds fun and others who think it sounds awful, “just like some straight people like retirement communities and some don’t.”

Meanwhile, some in his field oppose the idea of separate communities for gay seniors, which also have taken off in Canada and parts of Europe, as voluntary self-segregation. “There has been an argument of, ‘Should we be creating these places in the first place or forcing society to accept us?”’ he said.

For his part, Jack Norris says that battle can wait for the next generation.

He spent years in a job where he had to silently endure anti-gay jokes. Sirota, who is 80, did not tell his family he was gay until the two men got together.

Norris said even talking publicly about their new life at Rainbow Vision felt like a revolutionary act.

“Seymour was worried maybe we would be getting too much exposure,” he said. “But then I said, ’We need to be like Rosa Parks. We can’t sit in the back of the bus.”’

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