"For us, living in a safe environment is important": a home for LGBT+ seniors opens in Lyon

Elected officials, association members, architects, and co-residents gathered this Thursday, October 9, on Rue Belfort to inaugurate France's first Diversity House in Croix-Rousse. In this house, the average age of tenants is 65. Some are gay, others trans, or straight without family support. A few are still active, and four are over 70. Each has their own individual apartment and enjoys 120 square meters of shared space: kitchen, living room, laundry room, a large bicycle shed, cellars, and garden. The goal: to provide a safe, pleasant, inclusive, and affordable living space for isolated seniors, often LGBTI+, sometimes living with HIV.

"So I can reassure you, growing old as an LGBTI+ person or growing old in general is the same thing," begins Stéphane Sauvé, general delegate of the association behind the "Les Audaciouses et les Audacious" project, amused. He continues: "LGBTI+ people have the same needs, the same desires, the only thing that differs is their life paths." Difficult life paths, often fraught with pitfalls, have sometimes pushed these people to make themselves invisible, to isolate themselves. While the suicide rate among older LGBTI+ people is seven times higher than the average, the Maison de la Diversité stands out as a place where everyone can embrace their community: "This house was created so that everyone can grow old with dignity, break this solitude, find a place where everyone is respected for who they are," says Stephane Sauvé.

Among the very first tenants of this house, François, 65, moved in on October 3rd. Still with his head in boxes, he is starting to make the place his own, which he has dreamed of for several years: "I always wanted to live in participatory housing but I didn't have the money, the Maison de la Diversité was a real opportunity for me," shares the new tenant with a big smile. A resident of Lyon for many years, the sixty-year-old is impatient to start his new life: "This house meets a real societal need (...) For us, living in a safe environment, where we won't receive comments, either about our gender or our sexuality, is already very important," says François.

A safe environment, like a cocoon, designed for people who suffered from a time when homosexuality was repressed: "For the most part, we lived in the 70s, at that time homophobia was penalized, we were chased by the cops, we were forced to live in a sort of "no men's land" of love and sexuality, and I think that period left its mark on me," says François. "I lived my whole life with fear in my stomach, with the fear that people would spot me as gay, that people would insult me, even today, I am still very careful because homophobia persists, even in Lyon."

Like most of his roommates, François doesn't have children or family to rely on: "Many of us were rejected by our families (...) For example, I left home at seventeen, it took time for me to reconcile with my family and even today the bond is not completely rewoven." The sixty-year-old continues: "I rebuilt a family with friends, with people who share the same concerns as me, which means that when I got older, I found myself far from my genetic family, which is one of the reasons for the isolation for aging people in the LGBTI+ community."

But today, at 65, François can finally breathe and seems to have found a new family: "We are happy to find a group, a community, to set up a social life project (...) based on the great principles of solidarity, sharing, listening, kindness and shared activities" , explains the new tenant, before concluding: "We will still have to learn to love each other, despite our differences."

Read also: Growing old while remaining yourself: the first LGBT+ seniors' home opens in Lyon