Nov 20, 2006Articles: Retirement complexes cater to gays
By vanrozenheim
(USA) - After 25 years of social activism, 59-year-old Brenda Crawford relishes the prospect of handing over the torch to a youthful crusader. When she and her partner sell their Vallejo home within the next five years, they expect to move to a planned posh retirement community for lesbians and gays. The $85 million Fountaingrove Lodge in Santa Rosa is expected to open in the winter of 2008 or 2009. Crawford prefers living in a place where neighbors won't arch an eyebrow when they discover her partner is a woman 16 years her junior. "I don't think I would consider going into a center that was not (gay-focused) simply because I need to leave that fight to somebody who's younger," she said. "I don't want, at 60, to be worried about walking out of my door and not having people say hello to me." At Fountaingrove, the people next door would be more likely to invite them over to watch "The L Word."
