- I would like to be able to be and be free to say who I am.

I'm right now in a wonderful apartment complex, but I'm afraid to even share anything about myself because I don't know how they're gonna receive me.

It's like a new coming-out situa (soft piano music) - So thank you all so much for joining us here today.

We have scrap paper.

If anyone wants to take notes, you can take pictures with your Feel free.

Make sure we're keeping everything in the boxes so that we're maintaining the ar that these incredible folks are maintaining for us.

- My therapist had actually recommended this group just to form some new community, meet some new people, and just to get out and socializ I did not know what to expect.

I was really unaware of the group previously.

I was just here to to kind of check things out really.

- So this group is fairly new.

I don't have a lot of friends who identify within the communit It's easy to become disconnected it's easy to become isolated.

So to have a group like this where we can come together is really important because it gives us the opportun to have that human interaction one-on-one with other people who relate to things that are important to us.

- We went to the SUNY campus, to the library, and we looked at some of the arc from the Gay Community Center.

Being there and looking at some of the old newspaper articl it was a reminder of where we were back then and where we are now, which unfortunately doesn't seem that we've come that far, to some degree.

It also brought me back to my own coming-out days, the things that happened during the '70's and '80's espec and just to see how much we've grown in the Albany area.

I need to know and meet other fo that are in my age group.

It's a lonely feeling, and at times I feel depressed.

So I wanna get back into the com and this is my first opportunity to be able to do this.

- I look forward to coming here to whatever the program is.

It's different each month.

These are new friends that I've I'll look forward to just connecting some more.

- I mean, I think it's hard when you're older anyway.

You wanna live amongst people that if they're not similar to who you are, at least they're accepting to just your basic core.

For me, being a lesbian is who I An organization like Aging with Pride is so important because it allows me or anyone just to be who they are.

- [Announcer] Live well, age well.

Never stop learning.

Albany Guardian Society, helping older adults in the Capital Region age well through information and education.

Learn more about programs and classes.

AlbanyGuardianSociety.org.