Cumulative years of discrimination can harm members of any minority group, emotionally and financially. LGBTQ+ seniors have been impacted by decades of unfair treatment – in jobs, among family and acquaintances, and more. How does that extended inequality affect them today? Seniors Guide writer Terri Jones explores the issue.
My mother married my father in the late ’50s. After seven years of marriage, Mom found herself attracted to a pretty high school teacher from North Carolina named June and left my father to be with her. It was the mid ’60s, when you could be fired from your job, evicted from your home, deemed mentally ill, or even arrested for being openly lesbian or gay. For those who had children like my mother, you could lose custody.
My mother and June had to be discreet about their relationship and lived as “roommates” for two decades, never showing affection in front of anyone, even me and my sister. It was only after Mom split up with June and started a new relationship with Martha in the late ’80s that she “came out” to us and a select few people in her life.
What’s the impact on LGBTQ+ seniors?
The stigma and discrimination that caused LGBTQ+ people to live in the closet for most of their lives has certainly affected how they’ve aged. Because this group of seniors has been invisible and overlooked for so long, little has been known about the impact of these inequities on their health, careers, financial situation, care, social connections, etc.
“Diversity in aging has received increased attention in recent years in the field of gerontology. However, older lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people have largely been missing from these conversations,” according to the NIH study, “Queer Aging: Older Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults’ Visions of Late Life.” That dearth of information has made it difficult to make policies and design services to meet the needs of this burgeoning group, which now numbers nearly 3 million in the U.S. and a half a million in the U.K.
However, in recent years, agencies like NIH as well as nonprofit organizations have begun gathering quantitative and qualitative information about these seniors. Here’s some of what they’ve learned so far.
Health care
Adequate health care is vital to any senior, no matter their sexual orientation or identity. However, a report from SAGE, a nonprofit that champions the rights and well-being of LGBT seniors, found that one in three LGBT seniors with a serious illness reported receiving insensitive medical treatment because of their sexual identity. Because 64% of LGBT older people fear discrimination and are concerned about their ability to access needed services as they age, they are more than 2.5 times as likely to avoid medical care compared to their heterosexual peers.
In the U.K., LGBTQ+ people typically report worse experiences with diagnosis and treatment of diseases like cancer, dementia, and mental illness, resulting in these older adults also delaying or even avoiding treatment, according to a State of Aging Spotlight on older LGBTQ+ people from the Centre for Ageing Better. Therefore, it’s not surprising that 11.4 % of lesbian and 15.8% of bisexual women age 50 to 64 report bad health compared to 8.1% of heterosexual women.
Minority stress, which is “the additional stress that members of marginalized groups experience because of the prejudice and discrimination they face,” has also been shown to contribute to poorer health among these individuals. “I know it [discrimination] was a big factor in situational anxiety that may have exacerbated my inherited GI tract issues,” states Beverly, 83.
Careers
In the SAGE study, 71% of LGBT older people said they had experienced at least one case of discrimination in the workplace – from hiring to promotions to simply keeping their jobs – which often affected their earnings and Social Security once they retired.
After 77-year-old Martha had worked in the juvenile court system for five or six years, the police chief approached her because he thought that she would make a good police officer. “At the time there was a law on the books that made sleeping with someone of the same gender a misdemeanor,” she explains, noting that she would’ve had to respond to that question on a lie detector test. Not only would an honest answer have made her ineligible for that position (and maybe even led to an arrest), but she also worried that it could have jeopardized her employment with the juvenile court. “They could have pegged me as a pedophile,” she adds.
“If you were discriminated against at age 20, 30, and 40, trying to get a decent job, trying to get promoted, trying not to get fired, hoping to be invited to the company family picnic, needing to go out on the golf course with the guys where the deals are being made, and they shun you because they suspect you’re not one of them – there are huge career ramifications,” Robert B. Hudson, the late managing editor of the journal Public Policy Report told Boston University Today in 2012.
Finances
Workplace discrimination often also impacts LGBTQ+ senior’s retirement income and Social Security payments. The SAGE study found that more than one third (36%) of LGBT seniors live below 200% of the federal poverty level.
In fact, some estimates suggest that older same-sex couples bring in 34.7% less in retirement income than their heterosexual peers, according to NIH. That could be partially attributed to the fact that LGBTQ+ couples were unable to marry for so many years and therefore cannot collect Social Security or pension survivor when their partner passes away. These couples are also more likely to have a mortgage in later life and may even delay retirement, which could negatively impact their health.
In the U.K., the Centre for Ageing Better found that LGBTQ+ people were less prepared for retirement than heterosexual individuals.
Care
LGBTQ+ seniors often don’t have partners or kids to care for them as they age. The SAGE study found that they’re five times less likely to have been married and two times less likely to have children. They’re two times more likely to live alone, leaving them without a built-in caregiver like some of their heterosexual peers. Sometimes they’re even estranged from their biological families, who may otherwise have cared for them in their later years.
Long-term care facilities are the next option, but many LGBTQ+ seniors are concerned about finding an assisted living community or nursing home that is inclusive – both by staff and residents. Bill, who was 66 at the time of the NIH study, said that if he moved into long-term care, he was afraid that he’d be sharing space with people who “lived in an era where it wasn’t cool to be gay.” Back then, homosexuals were considered mentally ill and his neighbors in the retirement community might view him in this way. Mark, 69, was afraid that he’d have to go back into the closet if he went moved into assisted living or a nursing home. And concealing his sexuality again would cause him to lose autonomy and chip away at his self-esteem.
Bill and Mark’s concerns are certainly not unfounded. In a survey of 649 LGBT nursing home residents and their families, 23% reported that they or their loved ones had experienced verbal or physical harassment from other residents. But the discrimination wasn’t only from residents –14% also reported this abuse from staff and 20% were even denied admission or discharged without notice.
Interviewees in the NIH study said cohousing, a community where LGBTQ+ residents live, eat, and socialize together and provide support for one another, would be the ideal long-term care solution for them. After all, it’s common for LGBTQ+ elders to rely on each other, or their “chosen family,” to help them when no one else will.
Social connections
Since LGBTQ+ seniors are more likely to live alone, they tend to have smaller social networks. In the SAGE study, 45% of respondents expressed a lack of companionship and 48% admitted to feeling socially isolated (rates for older transgender individuals are 56% and 63% respectively). Being socially isolated is sad on its face, but this state can actually be a health risk, raising the risk of heart disease, stroke, and dementia.
The Centre for Ageing Better reported that while LGBTQ+ people in the U.K. typically feel disconnected within their own neighborhoods, they are active in local groups and have strived to create support networks for themselves for decades within LGBTQ+ social spaces, like bars and clubs. However, they feel that ageism prevails within these spaces, often isolating them from younger LGBTQ+ individuals.
Wellness
Perhaps thanks to their support networks, nearly half of LGBTQ+ seniors reported very good or excellent quality of life, life satisfaction, and happiness in the SAGE study. Experts suggest that this state of well-being could also be attributed to their participation in advocacy (43%), volunteer work for religious organizations (62%), and at least one physical activity per week (56%). It may also be because a life of homophobia has prepared them for challenges and aging certainly isn’t the worst challenge they’ve encountered.
If my mother were alive today, I’m certain that she would be one of seniors who was happy with life. While things definitely weren’t easy for her after leaving my dad, working in a male-dominated profession, and living in the closet for so long, I’m certain that she would say the hard knocks just made her stronger.
A hopeful future for LGBTQ+ seniors
Many of today’s LGBTQ+ seniors are the epitome of strength and resilience, having pushed back against injustice throughout their lives. They’ve achieved major milestones for equality, from greater social acceptance to the right to formalize their love relationships. Their perseverance – and unwillingness to be overlooked – will continue to change the landscape for generations to come.
