A Nonprofit Is Planning D.C.'s First LGBTQ Senior Living Facility

Stephanie Rudig Cecilia Hayden-Smith —a retired cook, caterer, and addiction-counselor—has met people from all walks of life since moving to the District in 1962, when she arrived from a small town in Maryland. Now 72, she shares a house with other women. Hayden-Smith came out as a lesbian in her thirties. “I was a late-bloomer because I was so busy trying to fit in,” she says, laughing. She had reason to come out as an adult: The two queer people she knew growing up “were treated horribly,” bullied and called names. Happily, Hayden-Smith has been with her “mate,” a […]