Photo: A 2025 bingo game at a center for LGBTQ+ older adults in Manhattan, run by SAGE. (Credit: Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit)
“Nearly 1.8 million New Yorkers are over the age of 60, and that number will continue to grow in the years ahead. But not all older adults experience aging in the same way.
For many LGBTQ+ older New Yorkers, growing older means navigating challenges that traditional aging systems were never designed to address. LGBTQ+ older adults are more likely to live alone, less likely to have children, and more likely to rely on paid care, friends, neighbors, and chosen family as they age. Many have lower lifetime earnings, are more likely to be single beneficiaries, and depend heavily on Social Security to meet basic needs.
These realities are the result of decades spent navigating discrimination in housing, healthcare, employment, and public life. Some are long-term survivors of HIV. Others experienced family rejection or spent years building support systems outside traditional family structures.”
Op-ed by SAGE CEO Lynn Faria & Commissioner of the New York City Department for the Aging Dr. Lisa Scott-McKenzie
Read the full piece here. This piece was originally published in City Limits on July 8, 2026.
