For LGBTQ Seniors, Rainbow Elders is the Community They’ve Always Been Looking For

Rowena Williams says she took back her life the day her dad was lowered into the ground. No longer trapped by her loyalty to him to keep up the pretense of life as a straight woman, and with no obligation to her mother who never accepted her, she began living proudly as lesbian.

Ms. Williams, 63, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, growing up in an environment where violence and discrimination against the LGBTQ community was prevalent. At age 17, a couple years after her family moved to Canada, she came out to her parents. She said her dad loved her and she loved him, but that he gave her an ultimatum two years later: Leave the family home or get married and have children. She went on to have a daughter and a son, and was married to her husband until he died in 1992.

“Do you know what it is to be Black, gay and a woman back in the seventies? That’s a lion. You have to be strong. You have to be bold,” she said. “I am still that lion. A lion with a great heart. A lion with a great mind. A lion that doesn’t tolerate nonsense.”

Her experience coming out later in life, and of facing unique challenges related to isolation, acceptance and housing, is one known by other Calgarians. And it’s why she helped co-found Rainbow Elders, a non-profit organization working to make significant differences in the lives of LGBTQ seniors – an often neglected group compared to the resources offered to younger people. There aren’t many such organizations in Canada.

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