Ian Johnson, Out Now
March 9, 2008
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TOPICS: Gay marketing of aged care in US gay and lesbian market. Gay marketing news. LGBT aged care seniors market. Gay and lesbian marketing. Gay seniors marketing. Arizona gay market. US aged care for gay and lesbian market. New retirement village development planned in Surprise, Arizona.Gay Market News has written before about the increasing need for lesbian and gay aged care to be a part of the demographic solution of the gay baby boomer generation reaching retirement age.
Now plans have been announced for a new Arizona gay retirement village for gay seniors.
Although the development is yet to be approved, the Surprise, Arizona initiative is part of a growing trend for gay aged care provision in the US market and elsewhere.
Here is an extract of mainstream media reporting on this new gay market project:
Surprise development aims at gay retirees
Like a lot of baby boomers, gay and lesbian retirees are looking for a safe, fun place to live out their autumn years.
But Arizona's retirement offerings might not cut it for many, because of a lack of like-minded residents or a fear of coming out to the neighbors.
Out Properties LLC, a St. Louis development firm, hopes to change that by marketing a unique lifestyle to this niche group it calls "gayby boomers," or gay baby boomers. It plans to build a resort community, Marigold Creek, in Surprise catering to gay retirees.
"For some people, this might be the very first time in their entire life they've been able to live somewhere where they can be themselves," said Debi Purvis, principal with Out Properties.
The group is a division of Aventurs Development, and Marigold Creek is its first gay and lesbian retirement development.
Such communities exist or are in the works in Florida, California and New Mexico. But Marigold Creek is considered the first community of its kind in Arizona.
Mayor Lyn Truitt is a fan of the concept.
"We're not a community that puts up barriers," he said. "Rather, we take them down."
Purvis said Surprise had the best combination of location and community in the Valley.
Though anyone will be able to buy at Marigold Creek, it is being designed with gay retirees in mind.
Tucson resident Frances Coleman, 53, understands the need.
"The really big advantage is, you don't have to go back into the closet and squish yourself," she said. "You can live with your partner and not have to pretend you're roommates."
She said she has encountered many retirees who chose to settle down in gated communities but kept their sexuality a secret.
"As a gay person, you're constantly coming out to people in every single venue - or constantly hiding, if that's how you live," she said.
Doug Beckwith, 56, lives in Chandler's Sun Lakes. While he enjoys the community, he sees the advantages of a place like Marigold Creek.
"We spent our whole lives always being different and being outcasts," he said. "It would be kind of nice to live in a place where everyone else had gone through the same experience."
Beckwith, dean and executive director of Axia College of the University of Phoenix, said he has talked for years with friends about the benefits of a gay retirement project.
"It would be nice to have neighbors who you wouldn't have to explain to why you weren't married or didn't have grandkids," he said.
Out Properties is only in the early planning stages with the city, Surprise senior planner Janice See said. The City Council eventually must sign off on zoning and land use changes to allow a higher density, she said. But based on preliminary talks, the project sounds favorable, See said.
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