This article describes an interdisciplinary pilot study exploring the impact of LGBTQ senior centers on the lives of center members. Many LGBTQ adults face the future having experienced stigma and bias, restricted rights, and rejection from family of origin, and are now growing older without the support of a partner and adult children. As a result, older LGBTQ adults experience higher rates of depression, loneliness and isolation, and shortened life expectancy as compared to non-LGBTQ peers. Findings from focus group and key informant interviews highlight features of LGBTQ senior center experiences that can significantly improve members' quality of life. These include providing family, acceptance and a home, which can have an impact on outlook and outcomes. Moreover, findings suggest the need for re-thinking hetero-normative definitions of "community" in the context of LGBTQ aging. Beyond sharing findings from the study, suggesting a conceptual framework for deepening understanding about LGBTQ aging, and identifying lines of future inquiry, the article articulates implications for social work research, practice and education. Ultimately, the article argues that social work is well positioned to improve quality of life for this under-served population when it adopts a cultural humility stance in research, practice and education.

This article reports on an exploratory study examining end-of-life planning among members of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) senior center in the Bronx, New York, that provided social work students hands-on qualitative research experience in an urban setting. Despite health disparities such as increased rates of depression and isolation and shortened life expectancy as compared to non–LGBT-identified peers, older members of LGBT communities demonstrate resilience as they face their own aging and mortality without traditional family caregivers. Findings suggest that previous experiences providing care for dying adult loved ones can improve well-being by clarifying personal care wishes, promoting planning for end of life, and diminishing anxiety about death. Implications extend beyond LGBT older adults to persons facing late life without care partners for a variety of reasons.