Retirement Homes, Resorts for Gay Community

As gay baby boomers near retirement age, they worry that they will be required to live apart from their partners in nursing homes or be forced to conceal their sexual orientation to gain acceptance in traditional retirement communities.
By: Lisa Leff: REALTOR® Magazine Online
In response, builders are constructing gay-friendly senior developments in such markets as Florida, California, Arizona, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Texas.


Olivia Cruises and Resorts founder Judy Dlugacz is presently looking for land in Palm Springs, Calif., to built upscale resort communities for lesbian retirees.

"There is a real sense of disenfranchisement and also a sense of independence, of 'I don't want to be dependent on family, I want to be dependent on community,'" she says.

However, psychologist Steven David of the University of California, Los Angeles says some gays do not approve of such self-segregation and believe their presence in society should be accepted.