Five years ago, when David Oscar moved into the Hebrew Home at Riverdale in New York City, he hid the fact that he was gay. At the time, Oscar says he thought it could be used against him. “I grew up at a time when being gay was illegal and some even called it a mental illness,” he says. “My life was very secretive.”

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But in 2016, the 86-year-old helped form the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) & Allies support group at the skilled-nursing facility. Since then, Oscar says, “I’m finally able to express that part of my personality that is so important to me. Now I feel at home.”

Many LGBT seniors have long faced difficult housing choices: Move into a traditional retirement community and not disclose their sexual identity, or be open about it and hope that staff, residents and health care professionals don’t judge or shun them.

Similarly, LGBT seniors who age in place have had to cross their fingers that their home health aides will treat them respectfully.

“Discrimination and harassment have been going on for decades,” says Kelly Kent, director of the National LGBT Elder Housing Initiative, which is part of LGBT advocacy organization SAGE. A 2014 Equal Rights Center study of fair housing shows that 48% of same-sex couples received different treatment than heterosexual couples when it came to housing deposits and fees, availability, and applications. Today, only 21 states or localities offer fair-housing protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity.