SAGE/ Senior Action in Gay Environment

View the SAGE (Milwaukee chapter) web site at this link (will open in a separate browser window).

In 1993, the Cream City Foundation gave Eldon Murray a grant to attend a SAGE (Senior Action in a Gay Environment) conference in New York. It was money well spent. Eldon came back to Milwaukee and, in 1994, founded "SAGE/Milwaukee", Wisconsin's first organization devoted to issues surrounding aging in the LGBT community.

By 2000, the group had around 100 active members. Speaking of the problems faced by Gay Seniors, Eldon Murray once said, "The major problem is that there are all kinds of programs out there. Gay people don't choose to participate in them. They either don't know about them or they are in the closet."

As of early 2007, SAGE/Milwaukee has at least 14-16 events each month, many held in its offices on the East Side, and is coordinated by Executive Director Bill Serpe, reporting to the Board of Directors.

The following basic information of SAGE is from the Group's web site.

SAGE/Milwaukee is a self-help advocacy group established for mature gay, lesbian and bi-sexual citizens of Southeast Wisconsin. Its goals are:

• To provide support to mature gays, lesbians, and bi-sexuals who are coping with adjustments caused by age, lifestyle, and loss of significant others and/or peers.
• To advocate for a system of psycho-social living and social services in the community which will adequately provide a pathway toward wellness and maintenance of quality of life.
• To secure increased support for research from local, state, federal, and private sources toward eradicating the stigma associated with age and lifestyle.
• To educate the lesbian and gay community, as well as the general public, about the lives of, and issues concerning older lesbians and gay men and to help mental health and medical professionals understand the needs faced by mature persons living alternative lifestyles.
• To attain a firm commitment to the innate dignity for this maturing group of productive citizens and/or their rights to a maximum possible participation in society.