For most same-sex couples, marriage equality isn't just about being able to marry the person they love, but being able to protect those they love. Much of the national spotlight has been focused on what that means for younger gay couples with children, but the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision has equally important implications for the health and well-being of older Americans.

�Our seniors are running off and getting married not only out of love but because they can finally protect each other and the lives they�ve created together,� said Lori Gum, program and Pridecoordinator for Stonewall Columbus, a gay-rights organization.

Largely invisible until very recently, there are about 3 million Americans age 60 or older who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, experts say. That number is expected to double by 2030, said Grant Stancliff, spokesman for the advocacy group Equality Ohio. Baby boomers are the first generation of LGBT people to have lived openly gay or transgender lives.

Though older LGBT adults generally express general satisfaction with their lives, they often face discrimination based on their sexual orientation, as well as their age, Stancliff said. They have higher disability rates, fewer opportunities to save for retirement, and many deal with mental-health concerns that spring from a lifetime of discrimination and stigma.

They�re also twice as likely to be single and three times more likely to be childless, compared with their heterosexual peers, making them more reliant on friends and community members than their families, he said. This has been problematic because so many of the country�s laws and policies have recognized only a person�s legal and biological family members, often leaving out their life partners.

Janice Langbehn, a Washington state social worker, was kept from her loved one�s bedside as she fought for her life without someone by her side. During a 2007 Florida vacation, Langbehn�s partner of 18 years, Lisa Pond, collapsed with an aneurysm and was taken to a Miami hospital. She died there, at age 39, as Langbehn unsuccessfully tried to persuade hospital officials to let her and the couple�s thee adopted children visit Pond.

It happens more than people might think, Gum said.

�We have people in our grief group whose partners have died and their estranged family members have picked up the bodies without letting them see their loved ones, making it difficult for them to have any kind of closure,� she said. �It�s sad.�

But as a result of the Supreme Court�s gay-marriage decision, same-sex spouses are entitled to equal protection under the laws as heterosexual couples. They can visit their loved ones in hospital units routinely restricted to immediate family members. They can oversee their treatment and medical decisions. And they can ask nurses and doctors for information, Gum said.

Same-sex spouses also will now enjoy all state tax and spousal benefits in the event of divorce or death. That includes access to a spouse�s retirement benefits or survivor benefits under Social Security, accumulation of marital property and inheritance in the absence of a will.

Hopeless romantics, Robert Bennett, 73, of Gambier, and Larry Schlatter, 70, of Worthington, married in October for love. But the two are glad for the newfound protections of their union.

�We had done a lot of our estate planning early on in our relationship,� Bennett said. �But, if heaven forbid, something were to happen to one of us, we now also would be entitled to Social Security survivor benefits, which is comforting to know.�

The two met at a gay campground near Des Moines, Iowa, in July 2011.

Bennett, a retired classics professor at Kenyon College, was in Iowa visiting the special places he had shared with his recently deceased partner, an Episcopal priest and licensed counselor. Schlatter, a retired neurochemist who had worked at an animal-nutrient company, was there for some rest and recreation.

After catching each other�s eye and a little flirting, Schlatter abruptly vanished.

�I had spent my whole life in the closet, and I came out and no one had ever made a pass at me, so I left,� he explained.

The two ran into each other 10 days later at an event for �large, bearded gay guys� at an Italian Village bar and have been inseparable ever since.

Though each had once thought they�d never find love again, both asked the other to marry him within hours of hearing the Supreme Court�s ruling to legalize same-sex marriage on June 26.

Still, too many older same-sex couples are afraid to get married because it could �out� them in a way that might expose them to discrimination or harm, said Jim Ryan, a local consultant and trainer who works to raise awareness about LGBT issues. They also might not believe that marriage equality is here to stay.

And LGBT people still lack several other basic protections in the areas of housing, employment and accommodations.

�A same-sex couple can get married on a Saturday, and when the marriage announcement appears in the paper on Monday, one or both spouses could be fired, or they could be evicted from their apartment, simply for being LGBT,� Ryan said.

epyle@dispatch.com

@EncarnitaPyle