By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO
On May 8, 2025 city leaders and grassroots advocates gathered at Mary’s House for Older Adults for a ribbon cutting on a new housing facility. The complex was created as a safe and affordable space for seniors from Washington, D.C.’s LGBTQ+ community.
With financial support from Mayor Muriel Bowser via a city-backed loan, the long-heralded project was described by many as an answer to a missing component within the District’s housing facilities, although it was a private enterprise and not owned by the city.
During the Spring 2025 ceremony, Victoria Kirby York, former vice chair of D.C.’s LGBTQ+ advisory committee, said Mary’s House was the result of a dream come true – a space for LGBTQ+ elders to enjoy the benefits of community life.
“This will be a place that welcomes the LGBTQ+ community—and others too—but it will be based on the thought that ensures and addresses the issues of seniors, especially those who identify as LGBTQ+,” she said at the time.
However, thoughts about Mary’s House have since changed.
A growing number of residents are voicing concerns and raising doubts about the once highly touted facility.
Some even assert that given several calls for the police, alleged incidents of harassment and even the death of one resident, that the facility—specifically its management—has failed to live up to its promises.
The AFRO reached out to Mary’s House for Older Adults officials and to the current director of LGBTQ+ affairs for the District, but did not receive a reply from either.
One former resident, Wes Pinkney, 71, shared his concerns and explained why he moved out of the facility. He said he was once ecstatic about the possibilities and promises voiced by officials during the construction and subsequent opening of the facility. But it became apparent that it was not the place for him.
“After only being there for about three weeks, I began to observe a few things that caused me to become concerned,” he said. “I voiced them with the property manager, but she only shot me down. I even shared them with the residents’ circle, which was somewhat like a tenants’ association, but lacked any authority and was not held accountable for how it operated. Again, I was dismissed.”
Pinkney told the AFRO that eventually, he was written up by management, dismissed as a “gossip” and a “problem tenant.”
“Having no voice and no option to register concerns was unacceptable to me. In short order, there were more residents who were not gay and some of them were clear that they didn’t want to be around ‘folks like us,’” he said. “I even questioned the affordability issue because the price I was quoted for the rent was not what we eventually were charged each month. It was all confusing and very troubling.”
Pinkney, who is a fifth generation Washingtonian and identifies as bisexual, said the tension between the gay and heterosexual residents was a real problem as far as safety. But, he added, he had seen that before.
“We still have not resolved the challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community,” he said. “There’s been an uptick of transgender who have been attacked or killed. Even within the Black community, we are sometimes treated like we have a disease. And that hurts.”
Safety and support of the LGBTQ+ Americans, young or old, remains a problem across the nation, according to data posted on the website for the National Black Justice Collective, a civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black LGBTQ+ adults and youth.
Seniors like Pinkney say they remember the days when HIV/AIDS was tantamount to a death sentence and was an era in which many of their friends and family members died from the virus.
“Having a space like Mary’s House is really important to seniors because for so long we lived without a sense of dignity because of our sexual orientation,” Pinkney said. “I would bet that a lot of those in my age group suffer from PTSD because of lifelong fear and discrimination.”
