Language and LGBT Housing: Making Models that Fit All Communities
July 2011 | Joy Silver
“"With aging denial deeply embedded in baby boomer culture ('don’t trust anyone over 30'), the Rainbow Vision community is moving away from the word 'aging,' since we are all aging the minute we are born, and substituting the word 'evolving' instead."”
What language will baby boomers use to describe aging, and how will they accept its challenges? Rainbow Vision Santa Fe, a community offering active adult, independent, assisted, transitional and respite living services, has been engaged in re-examining and exploring language that adequately describes stages of aging, and the experience of their member residents, since 2004. This article also examines important similarities between seniors who identify as LGBT and their heterosexual counterparts. The author suggests that through a further examination of the LGBT senior experience through this housing facility, as a culture we can better define what aging means for all seniors.