Only the start

Much of what I write about GLBT people here is about the present, and sometimes the past. This video hints at the future.

The USA's first full-service centre for GLBT seniors has opened in New York City. Care of GLBT seniors will become a major issue in the years ahead—it could make the marriage debate seem trivial, not the least because caring for GLBT seniors starts from the obvious point that they are good and wonderful as they are.

Here in New Zealand, I’ve heard anecdotal stories of “rest homes” allowing for female prostitutes servicing elderly men. How will they cope with out and proud elderly gay men—will they be as accommodating, or will they dig in some sort of Victorian heel and treat the gay resident as a child, seeking to discipline him and make him pretend he is other than who he is?

As I get older, I assume that I’ll be advocating for GLBT seniors well before I get there. If it’s not a better world than the one in which we now live, it will be a tragedy. If the world I find myself in when I am a senior is not in every way better than the current world, then I will consider my entire life a failure. I do not intend to fail.

Well done, New York City! New Zealand will, one day, be even better. Ultimately, progress depends on all of us, because this is only the start.