Dismantling the Silence: LGBTQ Aging Emerging From the Margins

Abstract

Historical, environmental, and cultural contexts intersect with aging, sexuality, and gender across communities and generations. My scholarship investigates health and well-being over the life course across marginalized communities, including LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) midlife and older adults, native communities experiencing cardiovascular risk, and families in China living with HIV, in order to balance the realities of unique lives in contemporary society. By probing the intersection of age, sexuality, and gender, my analysis is informed by both personal and professional experiences. With the death of my partner occurring at a time of profound invisibility and silence before HIV/AIDS, I found my life out of sync, experiencing a loss without a name. My life was thrust into a paradox: My relationship was defined by a world that refused to recognize it. This essay provides an opportunity for me to weave together how such critical turning points in my own life helped shape my approach to gerontology and how gerontology has informed my work and life. Reflecting on this journey, I illustrate the ways in which historical, structural, environmental, psychosocial, and biological factors affect equity, and the health-promoting and adverse pathways to health and well-being across marginalized communities. Although gerontology as a discipline has historically silenced the lives of marginalized older adults, it has much to learn from these communities. The growing and increasingly diverse older adult population provides us with unique opportunities to better understand both cultural variations and shared experiences in aging over the life course.Keywords: Life course, Equity, Gerontology, Sexuality, Gender, History As a gerontologist, my scholarship focuses on understanding life and aging across differing historical, social, and cultural contexts; how marginalization intersects with age, sexuality, and gender; and what approaches are most effective to promote the well-being of people of all ages and cultures. Of the many joys and concerns in the lives of older adults and the field of aging, I ask myself how these priorities, and the dilemmas they present, have surfaced as my primary substantive interests. Over the past 25 years, I have investigated health risk and health-promoting pathways in aging and well-being across diverse communities, for example, working in LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) aging (Fredriksen-Goldsen, Cook-Daniels, et al., 2014;Fredriksen-Goldsen, Emlet, et al., 2013), reducing cardiovascular risk in native communities (Walters et al., 2012), and supporting caregiving of older adults and their families living with HIV in China (Fredriksen-Goldsen, Shiu, et al., 2011;Simoni et al., 2011), a highly stigmatized disease within a global context. This essay provides an opportunity for me to reflect on the turning points in my life and how these have informed my work over time, especially now that I'm old enough to complete my own aging-related survey...

Recapturing the power of ritual to enhance community in aging

“…Participation in meaningful ritual can aid in breaking through the effects of ageism and impact ageist stereotypes, both for the older adult and the witness. Although invisibility is an experience for many older adults it is particularly so for those in minority groups (Fredriksen-Goldsen, 2017;Siverskog, 2014).…”

Compassionate, evidence-based care for patients with HIV/AIDS at the end of life

“…6 Culture intersects with aging, sexuality, and health status to adequately describe how disparities affect this community. 7 Implementing mandatory training for medical personnel regarding biases specifically directed to the LGBTQ+ community will aid in providing culturally considerate care to the population. Without proper understanding of an individual's background, including sexual orientation and gender identity information, a medical professional cannot provide the same level of care as they might with a more complete picture.…”

“…Culture intersects with aging, sexuality, and health status to adequately describe how disparities affect this community 7. Implementing mandatory training for medical personnel regarding biases specifically directed to the LGBTQ+ community will aid in providing culturally considerate care to the population.…”

Mental Health of Older Adults by Sexual Minority Status: Evidence From the 2021 National Health Interview Survey

“…The intersection of age and sexual minority status may differentially affect the mental health of older LGB and non-LGB adults. Older LGB adults must confront various forms of stigma and discrimination related to ageism and heterosexism ( Fredriksen-Goldsen, 2017 ; Lyons et al, 2022 ). The compounded effect of ageism and heterosexism may heighten the risk of mental illness and other adverse health outcomes among older LGB adults than their non-LGB peers.…”