"The idea was first proposed at the Gay and Grey Forum in Cologne in 1995 and we began drafting plans in 2001, and it is truly amazing that it has taken all these years to become a reality," says Christian Hamm, a Berlin-based architect and nursing home board member.

"So we are even more pleased and proud that we have finally been able to open Europe's first full-service nursing facility for elderly gays and lesbians."

The newly built, four-storey nursing facility in the Pankow district of the German capital can accommodate 28 patients in state-of-the-art rooms with private bathrooms and enough space for some of their own furnishings.

Furnishings and decor are very important in a gay environment, says Hamm.

"When you're old," he says, "the last thing that you want to do is to have to hide. And you certainly don't want to give up your identity and live in some hostile environment, possibly sharing a room with someone who despises you."

Discrimination

Many gay Germans, who have lived openly as homosexuals well into middle age, are now worried that discrimination will have them retreating into secrecy if they enter retirement communities or nursing homes.

As independent adults, they have been able to pick their neighbours. As aged people needing care, their choices would be limited. And where many have been able to defy bias and so lead prosperous and rewarding lives, they wonder whether their strength in old age will allow them to continue doing so.

Now, as the first openly gay generation grows greyer and contemplates retirement, Hamm and his associates in Berlin have ambitious plans not only for the nursing home but also for an assisted-care retirement centre specifically for homosexuals, a place that will allow gays to grow old surrounded by other gays.

The nursing-care facility is just part of a 10-million-dollar old-age complex, which will one day offer residents spacious apartments, a café and function room facilities.

In addition, the post-modern design by Christian Hamm envisions a health-care centre with physicians, therapists and a wellness gym is also incorporated into the plan.

"All in all, it is a sheltered accommodation complex in the centre of Berlin," says Marco Pulver, 46, a homosexual social worker in Berlin.

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