As we celebrate GLBT History Month we are reminded of the bravery of those who helped establish our community. We look back on the work done by those who came before us, the legacy of those who are no longer with us and the world-changing accomplishments of our seniors.

Our seniors are our history and our heroes. They are the trailblazers, those who led the way from the Stonewall riots through the early days of the AIDS crisis to our current fight for equal marriage rights, the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the struggle for full equality. Our seniors have long led the fight to claim our birthright and enjoy the same rights and privileges as everyone else. The courage of our seniors in an age when activism of any kind carried far greater risks has made possible rights that were unimaginable 30 years ago.

Our seniors have helped make us who we are. They are an integral part of our community. They deserve our respect, our support and, when necessary, our help.

This requires that we develop a real understanding of our seniors’ lives and of their needs as they age. In order to help us do that, The Center will be asking community members who are 50 and better to take part in an upcoming 50 or Better Emerging Needs Survey. The purpose of this particular survey is to gain a clearer picture of our seniors’ housing needs and concerns, as well as to begin to identify any other needs that our seniors feel are important to consider.

Previous needs assessments with GLBT seniors have identified a variety of unique situations that face GLBT seniors. For example, many GLBT seniors have social support systems that consist largely of friends their own age and, as a result, they are less likely than their heterosexual counterparts to have a social support system of friends and family who are available to assist them as they grow older.

However, the last comprehensive GLBT senior-specific needs assessment in San Diego was conducted in 2003 and the world has changed a great deal since then. What does today’s world look like to our seniors here in San Diego County? How has the changing economy affected them? Do they have particular concerns that we may not have considered? What do they need? What services do they most want? We have heard from a number of seniors as they took our main Center survey and it’s clearly important that we provide a new, more specific, opportunity for feedback from those 50 and better.

We want to hear every suggestion, every thought, about seniors and housing, as well as other needs.

In the next few weeks we will begin sending out links to the first 50 or Better online survey. We’re asking everyone in the GLBT community who is 50 or better to spend 10 minutes to complete the survey and help us begin to better understand and plan.

Our seniors matter. They have helped change our world for the better. They have helped move us away from a world in which being openly gay was not an option – a time when people were routinely thrown out of their jobs, their houses and their families for being gay, when being gay in public was an invitation to jail time, beatings and worse – to a world in which openly gay men and women hold public office, schools offer gay/straight alliances, and many parents are fully supportive of their GLBT children.

Today’s world, imperfect as it may be, offers the GLBT community a great deal more than the world of three decades ago did. Our seniors have helped make that happen. We owe them a debt of gratitude and it’s time to begin paying it back.

For information on The Center’s 50 and Better Together programs, and other GLBT senior resources, contact Abby Schwartz at 619-692-2077, ext. 212, or aschwartz@thecentersd.org.