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Chapter 7 Gay, Gray, and a Place to Stay Living It Up and Out in an RV Park Aaronette M. White and Vera C. Martin Our concept of ‘home’ includes complex expectations, memories, and experiences .1 Just ask African American feminist lesbian Vera Martin, born in 1923, who packed her bags and moved to a predominantly white, lesbian-oriented RV park in Arizona at the age of 72. Aging lesbians are more likely to lack support from friends and family if they are open about their sexuality. They tend to live in isolation with their partners and to have fewer children, if any. If and when they or their partners die or fall ill, they become especially vulnerable, given the small size of their support circles.2 Many gays and lesbians approaching retirement have been obliged to find housing in straight institutions, where the homophobia of other residents pressures them to go back into the closet.3 Finding lesbian-friendly retirement facilities is difficult, yet the need for community, a sense of home, and safety increases as women grow older. As the U.S. population ages, more lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people will need high-quality, affordable housing and services designed to meet their specific needs. LGBT seniors, like anyone else, want open-minded neighbors who respect their right to age with dignity, security, and acceptance. Unfortunately, LGBT seniors face increased risks as a result of discrimination based on sexual preference and orientation, in addition to physical and emotional vulnerabilities associated with aging. Niche marketing has always been a feature of retirement communities, and for decades, Jewish, Catholic, Lithuanian, Polish, and Scottish retirees have gathered in facilities specifically targeting those populations.4 In the early 1990s Zoe Swanagon and Loverne King, a lesbian couple, founded an organization known as “RVing Women.”5 This group, the members of which were not all 113 114 Aaronette M. White and Vera C. Martin lesbian, began to advocate for its own recreational vehicle (RV) park. Many were already retired or semiretired. The idea was to establish a home base that would be affordable and safe for women in general, and lesbians in particular, as they grew older. Swanagon and King, who had other successful businesses, were able to use some of their own money, as well as advance sales of individual lots under a condominium arrangement, to buy land for an RV park with 226 lots. Their initial marketing efforts focused mainly on the existing membership of RVing Women. No bank loans were involved, although a few women from outside RVing Women made loans. Demand exceeded supply so quickly that in 1995 Swanagon opened a second park with 225 lots, across the street from the first one. Each park included a swimming pool, billiard room, ballroom, laundromat , main office, and library. Although both parks initially were intended for RVs, not for tied-down mobile homes, most lots are now occupied by “park models,” a type of mobile home that fits within a restricted square footage to comply with RV park zoning rules. Most of the lots are owned by couples and are nearly full from December through March. Some winter residents rent their lots to others during Arizona’s hot summer months. Most of the women are White, so women of color are almost as scarce as men in these communities. Few are under the age of fifty. The residents’ geographic origins are diverse, including clustered contingents from the East and West coasts. Their occupational backgrounds include nursing, teaching, administrative assistants, and military officers. As one woman noted, “Graduate degrees are not uncommon in areas such as social work, library science , and other women-dominated fields.”6 Publicity is not welcomed, because the residents’ desire for peace, safety, and seclusion is more important to them than political activism. When I (Aaronette) visited Superstition Mountain Resort in November 2003, I was impressed by the quiet surroundings, the feeling of safety among women, and the way all the streets were named after women. Walking by streets named Martina Navratilova, Susan B. Anthony, Barbara Jordan, Anne Frank, Gloria Steinem, Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks, and Katharine Hepburn made me feel proud to be a woman. Two White women riding their bikes wore tee-shirts that read, “Graduate of the Thelma and Louise Finishing School.” Enjoying this wry, feminist humor, I wondered how Vera decided to move and stay here. Vera’s story illustrates the various needs and experiences of a Black woman who simultaneously identifies with...

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