TOPICS: US. Gay seniors marketing. 2007. US lesbian and gay retirement market. Gay marketing to baby boomers in US. Gay and lesbian market. US gay market. Gay Grays set to become increasingly important market segment. Rainbow Vision Santa Fe retirement accommodation for lesbian and gay seniors market.
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Gay retirement homes.
Pie in the sky? No way - they are steadily becoming reality in a growing number of markets around the globe.
Lesbian and gay consumers are aging like everybody else and so with the general market baby boom leading to increasing attention to gray marketing elsewhere, the particular aspects of the gray gay niche is leading to the opening up of significant new marketing opportunities.
Yesterday's US media included an article about the growing market for gay grays retirement and marketing needs of gay seniors.
Here is an extract of that coverage:
Housing caters to 'gay and gray'
Dallas Morning News
SANTA FE, N.M. - Jan Gaynor and Barbara Cohn have decided to spend their retirement years in this city of art and culture, not just because it's steeped in 400 years of history but also because it offers something new.
The sixtysomething couple wanted to live in the nation's first full-fledged retirement community for gays and lesbians. They sold their house in California and moved into a condominium at Rainbow Vision Santa Fe this summer.
"We've been together for 16 years, and we were looking to retire someplace where we could be ourselves," Cohn said. "Here, we can hold hands and give each other a kiss without someone raising an eyebrow."
Since Rainbow Vision opened in June, 60 people from across the country have bought or leased residences and settled into what's been billed as a resort community for those who want to make the most of the second half of life.
Gay men and lesbians are the newest niche in a booming retirement housing market that already includes developments catering to Asian-Americans, the deaf, golfing enthusiasts, military veterans and university alumni. Besides Rainbow Vision, 21 gay and lesbian retirement communities are under construction or on the drawing board, according to the American Society on Aging.
The baby boomer generation is propelling the development of these communities.
The number of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans over 65 will more than double in the next 25 years, from an estimated 3 million to 7 million, according to projections by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Yet it's more than a matter of numbers. Gay boomers are the first generation to come of age after the gay rights movement of the 1970s and have been more open about their sexual orientation than previous generations.
"Gay boomers won't worry what other people think if they choose to live in a gay retirement community," said Sandra Timmermann, director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute, which has published a report titled "Out and Aging."
Gay people have long thought about retiring together, but the idea of building such communities hadn't progressed much beyond talk until recently, said Amber Hollibaugh, a strategist for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Over the past decade, however, a few housing projects have popped up to serve the "gay and gray" population. Developers have built subdivisions of single-family houses or sometimes just sold lots for trailer homes.
"As gay people, we may feel especially vulnerable as we age, since we're less likely to have children to call on for help," Hollibaugh said. "Yet we've also been resourceful and created our own 'families of choice' with our friends."
Rainbow Vision, a 13-acre development, is the first project to offer a broad range of retirement living choices - from 120 residences for active adults to 26 assisted-living suites for frail seniors.
From the outside, only rainbow banners at the entrance suggest this is no run-of-the-mill retirement home. Inside, members enjoy a fitness center and spa, gourmet food prepared by a chef trained in France, cabaret shows and a salon.
"Life can be difficult. We try to make it easy," said Joy Silver, the community's founder.
Activity revolves around the community center, where tai chi and yoga classes in the morning are followed by hot stone massages and book discussions in the afternoon and cabaret shows with celebrity look-alikes at night.
Gay memorabilia adorns the center's walls - Billie Jean King's tennis rackets in the fitness center named after her, an old magazine cover of Truman Capote in the library, a photograph of Oscar Wilde in the community room. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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