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A short train ride from central Madrid is a scruffy plot of land covered in weeds and surrounded by wire fencing. In just a couple of months work is expected to start to transform the site into Spain's first ever retirement home for gay and lesbian residents.
Spain has been at the vanguard of Europe in terms of gay rights in recent years, but activists say reforming laws has been easier than changing attitudes.
Gary
THANKS, Gary. Here in the States I've heard of a few. . .1 or 2 ?. . .in AZ. And there are a few now in the Boston area. . . . .but, from the little I know, it seems these 'spaces' are for the A- list GAYS. . . those with the money. I think the average gay person with meager savings and Social Security would not be able to afford most of these upper-class living scenes. . . .
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I speek from experience here. I write the check each month for my parents retirement home. It's over $3k a month each + more if you need any kind of assistance. The last month of my mother's life cost over $10,000. So I'd say that most retirement places are for the A list. I've checked prices at all of them in the area. If you're poor, there are places for you, just don't expect anything.
WOW!!!
Stew, what Do the poor do? Your firsthand figures are astronomical!
What if a long-term gay couple both needed to be in some sort of care-custodial home, would they place the two of them in the same facility? Or in there time of dire need would they be separated??? Imagine the scene!
Horrible.
I am sure many many of us younger gay men do not even think of that need ever arising. . .that inevitable 'old age' syndrome. .hehe Do gay men plan on such things financially?
T'would seem getting into a gay-friendly place woud be risky. . .There are those who'd say we gays do not want to "ghetto-ize". . .but where we live in our old age, esp as longevity gets longer. . . .hmmm. . . is a problema. .. ;-)
Welcome to the Gay Ghetto/Leper Colony/Charnel House. Why don't the go all the way and surround it with barbed wire.
There already is a wire fence around the scruff n' weeds. . .
If a retirement village for gays and lesbians is a ghetto, what is a retirement village for straights called?
In an ideal world gays and lesbians of retirement age and health care needs shouldn't need to seek out a "ghetto of likes" to enjoy some peace and respect in their senior years. Yes, in an ideal world there ought to be acceptance and tolerance for all citizens, etc, etc. etc.
We have almost daily reminders, of late, that we do not live in that ideal world. One can legislate "till the chickens come home", t'aint necessarily so. No matter the lip service. . .until hearts change. . . . .
It is variously attributed. . . when it was reported to the queen-consort of Louis XV that "the poor have no bread. . " Her Royal Majesty Marie Antoinette graciously replied "Oh?. . Then let them eat cake !"
Her descendants live after her, uttering similar words and/or sentiments, even from card- carrying members of the GayTribe.
[MA's reply is attributed to various queens . . .past and present.]
A straight retirement village is at best a nursery school with a golf course and at worst a charnel house with a pretty facade.
I don't think that a gay couple would be seperated in a retirement home. The issues would arise with the other residents. At my Dad's place, there is a small group of women that hang out all day in the lobby/loung that they refer to as "the mean ladies". They don't think others can hear them when they say the things that they do. They can be quite harsh.
But the staff is more of an "anything goes" kind of folk. I have found that SOME older folks can be quite opinionated and mean. Hopefully by the time I need a place like that, the general opinions will have changed. And the price will have come down.
A nursery school with a golf course hehe. So true.
Candles in the wind, as Sir Elton sang.
How strange. Marilyn Monroe was Norma Jeane Mortenson, and Elton John was Reginald Kenneth Dwight. A rose by any other name...
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