Moving into a senior living community is a big step for anyone. But for older LGBTQIA+ adults, the decision often comes with concerns that go beyond downsizing or parting ways with a longtime home. It raises a more personal and more urgent question: Will I feel safe being myself in this community?
Abe Feingold recalls friends asking him whether he was worried about having to “go back into the closet” upon moving into Kendal, an affirming senior living facility in Oberlin, Ohio, in March 2024.
“Having lived my life openly since my college days, it would have been impossible for me to go back into the closet, as I imagine occurs for some LGBTQIA+ persons moving to environments less accepting of this aspect of diversity,” says Feingold, a retired clinical psychologist.
Click here to read more. This piece was originally published by U.S. News & World Report on January 15, 2026.
