The Future We’re Building: LGBTQ+ Elders, Power, and Possibility

This Pride Month we celebrate resilience and joy, and acknowledge the realities we are facing. LGBTQ+ elders, especially trans, nonbinary, BIPOC, and low-income community members, are still navigating systems not built with us in mind. Aging as LGBTQ+ in our region holds the potential for connection, purpose, and pride. But far too many people regularly face isolation, housing insecurity, and fear..

In the Puget Sound Region, we are proud of the milestones made in the last years for the aging LGBTQ+ community.

• The opening of Pride Place and the GenPride Center in 2023, our region’s first affordable housing and community space designed for LGBTQ+ older adults, was a powerful milestone.
• Last summer, during Seattle’s 50th Pride Parade, LGBTQ+ elders had a dedicated space in the parade for the first time. GenPride and more than 100 elders served as Grand Marshals in Seattle Pride’s annual parade.
• At the Pride in the Park event last year, more than 400 people visited the Legacy Lounge, our region’s first elder chill zone—and a nod to the early days of Pride at Volunteer Park.

These joyful, long-overdue moments also underscored a hard truth: the intersection of ageism, homophobia, transphobia, and other “isms” still pushes too many elders to the margins.

But yet, across Seattle and King County, a movement is gaining ground—one that knows fabulous has no age limit.

We see this in programs centered on older adults, such as housing support, hot meals, transgender support, embracing elderhood and grief groups, BIPOC lunch gatherings, writing circles, and drag performers over the age of 50. We see it in training that helps service providers move toward true cultural humility to create authentically welcoming spaces where LGBTQ+ elders belong.

This shift is bigger than any one organization or building. It’s a collective response to a pressing question: What does it mean to grow older in Seattle and King County and be met with dignity, care, and belonging?

This Pride, let’s celebrate and protect what’s been built and commit to a future where LGBTQ+ elders—especially trans, non-binary, BIPOC, and low-income community members—lead, shine, and thrive.

The future we envision is one we build together. Let’s keep going.