Nature arranged so that women often live longer than their husbands. And it is not surprising that in the pensioners' communities we usually see a shift in the ratio of the sexes towards women, according to the Internet edition for girls and women from 14 to 35 years old Pannochka. net Walk through the sites of one of these clubs near Fort Myers, in Florida, and most likely you will not see any men. But this does not prevent 300 women from leading an active social life, organizing tennis competitions in the afternoon and dancing in the evenings. And all because they belong to the first in the US so large a community of pensioners, in which lesbians predominate. "I still have to pinch myself to make sure it's not a dream," says Mary Jean Walsh, formerly vice president of Chase Manhattan, who moved to her pretty house three years ago. "When I was younger, I could not imagine that there was such a place".
In the past era, there were no such places. And if they were, they were temporary and almost mythical, if they were spoken about, then only lowering their voice. But with the constant increase in demand for homes among openly homosexuals, retirees' communities that meet their needs suddenly turned into a trendy trend. Dozens of developers, from Boston to Santa Fe, offer the construction of villages for pensioners of non-traditional orientation. All these firms are claiming a piece of the market, which represents about 2 million homosexuals over 65 years of age, and it is expected that by 2030 their number will double.
The increase in demand appears to be guaranteed for several reasons. The ancestors, the lesbians and the "blue", admit that in the usual pensioner communities they will be ostracized. "There is a strong fear that you will be again driven into the closet," says Peter Lundberg, who is developing a proposal for the construction of homes for elderly gays in southern California. In addition, since homosexuals often do not have children who could support them in old age, retirement communities look especially attractive. To this is added the AIDS factor: people infected with the virus now live longer, and the need for such communities can increase at their expense.
However, 6 years ago, when Gina Reisit and Katie Groen started to build a community and build prefabricated houses near Fort Myers, the opportunities were not so obvious. Then they had to make a tough commitment that a 50-acre site, a short walk from the beach, would not be featured in advertising as a female (especially homosexual) community. Even curious journalists turned their back on this fact.
The idea was born out of practical considerations. "We have many retired military servicemen and teachers who are afraid that they will lose their pensions if the outside world finds out about their orientation," explains Reisit. Even when they are over 70 and over 80, the lesbian village residents do not talk about their orientation to their own children and are afraid that their relatives will renounce them. (Therefore Time agreed not to specify the name of the community and its exact location. ) Other, more recent settlements operate with greater openness. In the village of Palmse, in Palmetto, Florida, about 35 gays and lesbians live in 21 houses, built in a Mediterranean style around the pond. On the 30-acre site, another 34 villas are planned to be built.
62-year-old Roger Robinson and 61-year-old Greer North in 2001 lived in Palmse part time, but a year later sold their home in Oregon and officially moved here. The couple, who lived together for 40 years, bought a rather large house in Palmse for 156 thousand. Doll. "If someone told me that I would end the life in Florida, I would call him a fool," notes North, the former manager of the technology company. "But the people here are a real treasure".
A distinctive feature of both communities is how their residents care about each other. "If someone gets sick, they bring him soup, they take him to a doctor or to a hospital," says Robinson, a former director of an elementary school.
When North had surgery to remove cataracts, at least six neighbors went to find out what they could do to help.
Unfortunately, villages are not protected from the prejudices prevailing in society. In Palms, there were cases when teenagers shouted insults against homosexuals and lesbians. "We need to be very careful about the allegations of homophobia," said a resident of the village Erni Setiani. "Maybe the kids just do not know how to behave".
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