Despite advances in LGBT civil rights, many senior care providers never stop to consider that their older clients may be lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) - and even those who do may not know how to provide services in culturally-sensitive ways. As a result, LGBT seniors often avoid seeking needed services out of fear of discrimination. The tendency for LGBT seniors to go "back in the closet" is particularly pronounced in situations where they are most vulnerable - such as when accessing home health care or residing in assisted living or residential care facilities. One study indicated that LGBT seniors may be as much as five times less likely to access needed health and social services because of their fear of discrimination from the very people who should be helping them.

This type of social isolation has an enormous impact in the health and wellbeing of LGBT seniors. With LGBT seniors twice as likely to live alone than heterosexual seniors, more than four times as likely to have no children, the informal caregiving support we assume is in place for older adults may not be there for LGBT elders.

SAGE's Strategic Plan

SAGE has adopted a new strategic plan that will guide SAGE's future as we continue to grow in our ability to serve our LGBT elders and advocate on their behalf. Read all about how SAGE will continue to provide services, programs, advocacy and communications.

Click here to read a summary of the Strategic Plan.

History and Background

Programs like SAGE become an important "safety net" for LGBT elders. Incorporated by lesbian and gay activists and aging service professionals in 1978 as Senior Action in a Gay Environment, SAGE (now Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders) is the world's oldest and largest non-profit agency addressing the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders. SAGE works with LGBT elders to address and overcome the challenges of discrimination in senior service settings, while also being an essential component in the creation of informal caregiving support, and development of new "family" networks. SAGE's programs include:

• The nation's first Friendly Visiting program for frail and homebound LGBT seniors
• The country's first support group for LGBT seniors with HIV
• The nation's first program dedicated to caregiving services for LGBT seniors.
• The nation's first LGBT Senior Drop-In Center,
• The creation of the first national conferences devoted to LGBT aging concerns
• The only Robert Wood Johnson Foundation "Faith in Action" grantee (of more than 2,000 nationwide) specifically targeting GLBT older people for supportive services,

Today, there are a growing number of retirement communities, senior housing and other high-end housing options targeting LGBT seniors. But for hundreds of thousands of LGBT seniors who will be aging in place in their own communities, SAGE programs and services provide the link they need to a safe and welcoming community.