June is Pride month and Broadway Stages is shining the Spotlight on some of our LGBTQ+ friends and neighbors. This week, we provide information about the wonderful people and services of the SAGE Centers of New York City. 

As a generation of LGBTQ+ pioneers age, their needs are changing and growing. Compared to older heterosexual and cisgender people, LGBTQ+ seniors show more significant mental, emotional, and physical challenges. LGBTQ+ elders are twice as likely to live alone. They are twice as likely to be single and 3 to 4 times less likely to have children.

To help overcome these challenges, the SAGE Centers of New York offer extensive services and programs to older LGBTQ+ people throughout New York City (and nationwide). Senior Action in a Gay Environment (SAGE) is a national organization of loving, caring activists dedicated to providing advocacy, services, and support to older members of the LGBTQ+ community.    

The five SAGE Centers in the New York area are the SAGE Center Bronx at Crotona Pride House (Bronx), SAGE Center Brooklyn at Stonewall House (Brooklyn), SAGE Center Harlem, Edie Windsor SAGE Center (Midtown), and SAGE-Pride Center of Staten Island (Staten Island). Each has a distinct style and presents a unique experience. But every SAGE Center is a place of pride, caring, and community. 

The SAGE Centers offer meals, classes, case management, informational resources, veterans’ services, social events, support groups, and more. In addition, their calendars are full of helpful, fun, and useful activities.

Older adults (age 50 and up) currently account for 17 percent of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States. SAGEPositive provides support and community for those living with HIV/AIDS. Bill Gross, SAGE’s Assistant Director of Special Programs, explains more about the program in this video. For those who are more isolated, the Centers provide Friendly Visiting. And SAGEVets serves LGBTQ+ veterans over 50 who reside in New York State. The Center also offers Care Management and support for caregivers with longer-term needs.

SAGE Centers are generously funded by the Department for the Aging (DFTA), The John H. & Ethel G. Noble Charitable Trust, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA), and the M·A·C AIDS Fund. But as an African proverb says, “Those who respect the elderly pave their own road toward success.” So SAGE welcomes your help either as a volunteer or a donor.

Broadway Stage is proud to be part of a community that values diversity, promotes inclusion of experiences, talents, and culture, and that brings together the young and older members of the LGBTQ+ community.  Watch the short video embeddded below to learn more about what it means to be SAGE strong.