GLEH Housing for Gay and Lesbian Seniors

Aging and Gay, and Facing Prejudice in Twilight

Even now, at 81 and with her memory beginning to fade, Gloria Donadello recalls her painful brush with bigotry at an assisted-living center in Santa Fe, N.M. Sitting with those she considered friends, “people were laughing and making certain kinds of comments, and I told them, ‘Please don’t do that, because I’m gay.’”

WASHINGTON – Same-sex couples face tremendous financial burdens in old age due to the denial of their right to marry, according to new research published today by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The greatest risks are to "widows" and "widowers" who are discriminated against in three significant ways – as lifelong relationships are dismissed as not having been families under law.