Gay and Lesbian Elders Active in Minnesota

Gay and Lesbian Elders Active in Minnesota (GLEAM) – (initially the 1501 Park Avenue) Bethany Lutheran Church, 2511 East Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN

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GLBT society has arguably been presented as a young person’s world. For example, many contemporary queer publications depict attractive and young faces on their covers to invoke greater readership, and thus better distribution (see: Lavender Magazine). Seniors are frequently absent from these portraits—older queer people add longevity, reality, and personal experience to a culture that developed transience and superficiality in order to survive the tumult of the 20th century. The present generation of queer youth and the Pre-Stonewall generations are separated by decades of radical societal change. WWII-era people have difficulty identifying with contemporary identities that were once derogatory definitions (“Queer,” “Homo,” “Fairy,” etc.). Their struggles are difficult to imagine 40 years after the Stonewall Riots.

G.L.E.A.M. newsletters, May/June 1999, Courtesy of Quatrefoil Library.

Gay and Lesbian Elders Active in Minnesota (GLEAM) organized in February of 1989 to serve a community with unique challenges—these range from identity politics to isolation, and from nursing home care to arranging wills without marriage rights.

Serious issues aside, GLEAM predominantly provides a friendly social space every month on a Sunday afternoon. Socializing may seem a commonplace goal, but the meeting allows an exchange of information for individuals who are unused to (or perhaps unimpressed by) the immediate and anonymous transfer of information provided by the internet.

G.L.E.A.M. initially met in Quatrefoil Library(1) before relocating to the Park Avenue Senior Center, where the group developed a mission statement in 1991.(2) “Gleamers” attended potlucks, holiday parties, movie nights, and organized speaking engagements—the last type of event typically included a lecture by lawyers, who instructed attendees on how to prepare wills, estates, and other pressing legal issues.(3) Social events continued at the center for 16 years, before moving to Franklin Avenue in 2006.(4) This change is one of few in the organization’s history—for two decades, G.L.E.A.M. has simply served the social needs of older GLBT people.

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Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-2010)

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(1)G.L.E.A.M. newsletter, July, 1990.From the "GLEAM Newsletter Collection at Quatrefoil Library.

(2)G.L.E.A.M. Task Force, meeting minutes. 1/22/1991. From the "GLEAM Newsletter Collection at Quatrefoil Library.

(3)"Ann Vitala to Speak," G.L.E.A.M. newsletter, June 1994. From the "GLEAM Newsletter Collection at Quatrefoil Library.

(4)G.L.E.A.M. newsletter, November-December 2006. From the "GLEAM Newsletter Collection at Quatrefoil Library.