Elderly people who identify as gay and transgender are hiding their true identities in aged care facilities due to fears of being outed.

Transwoman Diane Sparkes, 76, says she is among a growing number of aging LGBTI people who face having to go "back into the closet" when they enter retirement homes for fear of being stigmatised.

Sparkes spent 55 years struggling with her identity. At 67 years old and after gender reassignment surgery, her transition from male to female was complete.

DAVID WHITE/FAIRFAX NZ "Gay people particularly, they've had to go back into the closet."

The retiree doesn't want to risk having her identity compromised again by being put in a rest home that is not rainbow-friendly.

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"You don't want to go to a place where people are going to remind you of the pain you carried for all that time. I just don't want to face it.

"Gay people particularly, they've had to go back into the closet. It's still happening here."

Wellington's Te Hopai Home and Hospital is among a small handful of aged care facilities across the country that completed Affinity Services' Silver Rainbow workshop and gained the Rainbow seal, to become rainbow-friendly.

Te Hopai Home and Hospital's quality and training manager Sam Ogilvie said gaining the Rainbow seal and going through the training had not been without its challenges for some staff, who had come from countries where LGBTI communities faced ongoing discrimination.

"We have a really multicultural staff here and people arrive from all corners of the world with different viewpoints and levels of understanding about different cultural and sexual identity. We thought it would be good to get everyone on the same page and increase the inclusivity of our facility and move with the times."

Te Hopai's library and DVD collection included LGBTI titles and authors, and pronouns on forms were changed so gender did not have to be specified.

"What I hope is that we will be able to make use of our training and have a really diverse population of residents who are from all walks of life, so it will be a really interesting place to live."

Retirement Commissioner Diane Maxwell said the idea that people would spend the last years of their life hiding who they are was heartbreaking and needed to be addressed.

"It's good to hear that there's a group set up to build awareness and understanding of the issue, I suspect that's exactly what's needed.

"I do believe that future generations of retirees will have a broader view – they will have grown up in an era of gay marriage and a far more open attitude.

"More village residents of the future will not only be openly gay, but will move in as married couples."

Affinity Services Silver Rainbow programme leader Julie Watson said moving into aged care was the greatest change in a person's life.

"It's a really momentous time in anyone's life, and I think for someone who identifies as Rainbow, it's even more traumatic."

Uptake for Silver Rainbow had been low in Canterbury, while Auckland and Motueka facilities had been more open to the education training.

"It does tend to be more independent, small boutique facilities. Some of the larger chains aren't as receptive."

Sparkes hoped to live out the twilight years in an Orewa unit until reaching "a point where I'm basically sick, go to hospital and die".

"You've got to remember, that When I was born, in 1940, in those days it was illegal to be gay or homosexual. I don't even know why I'm still alive to be honest. I struggled for 55 years in total secrecy."