OPINION: LGBTQ History Month — Using Our Past to Define Our Future
A call for an equitable infrastructure that supports and prioritizes our most vulnerable community members, including our elders
Editor’s note: Michael Adams is the chief executive officer of SAGE (Advocacy and Services for LGBTQ+ Elders).
October is LGBTQ+ History Month, celebrating the transcending and courageous accomplishments of our community's pioneers. This history is defined by resilience and adaptability through the actions of LGBTQ+ older people, from their youth to the present day.
These champions for change have experienced — and fought their way through — numerous events and challenges that have shaped our community. Like the Stonewall Riots that helped start our fight for equality. The HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s, when we suffered unspeakable losses. Repealing the military's deplorable "don't ask, don't tell" policy. And so much more.
With 75% of LGBTQ+ elders worried about taking care of themselves, more than half are also concerned about being lonely as they get older.
While the past reminds us of the progress made, the LGBTQ+ community continues to face a daunting onslaught of discrimination and disparities — especially among elders. By 2030, the number of LGBTQ+ adults over 50 is expected to grow to approximately 7 million. But our country is not meeting the moment that this dramatic population growth requires.
One-third of LGBTQ+ elders live at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, and more than half are worried about outliving money saved for retirement. Many delay or avoid necessary medical care due to fears of discrimination or mistreatment by health care staff, while 34% fear having to "re-closet" when seeking elder housing.
History is Repeating Itself
With 75% of LGBTQ+ elders worried about taking care of themselves, more than half are also concerned about being lonely as they get older. The lack of companionship and a heightened sense of isolation makes us more likely to suffer from mental health complications. These challenges are significantly worse for LGBTQ+ elders than their heterosexual counterparts.
We're also witnessing history repeat itself, causing traumatic flashbacks to our past. Legislative and political attacks have accelerated in 2022, and fears of overturning our Supreme Court victory on marriage equality have grown exponentially with recent anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from the court's conservative wing. And the recent monkeypox outbreak — and the government's ham-handed response — has caused many to recall the stigmatization of the AIDS epidemic.
Both as an older gay man myself and working at the world's largest advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ elders, I've directly witnessed the hardships our community's older members continue to face. Too often, it feels like we're regressing rather than progressing. But I also know there is a path forward, and that path must be illuminated and informed by our past.
People of color, transgender people, and queer women have been most prominent in the ranks of those fighting back.
There is no way to effectively support our community without leaning on and learning from our groundbreaking history. We must learn from the past and use it to redefine our future so that we win and sustain life-changing progress for those who need it most.
The telling of our community's history tends to focus heavily on white, cisgender gay men. People who look like me have made significant contributions during the Stonewall Uprising and at so many other critical moments in our history. But people of color, transgender people and queer women have been most prominent in the ranks of those fighting back.
Our history of change-making has been forged to a great degree by people living at the intersections of race and gender. That shouldn't be surprising because these groups are hit the hardest by discrimination and face the most profound disparities. The realities of our intersectional history tell us that our progress must be intersectional to address our most acute challenges.
For instance, transgender older adults face a greater risk of suicidal ideation, disability, and depression than their cisgender peers. The unemployment rate of African American LGBTQ+ people is nearly double that of the general population. Rural LGBTQ+ elders face extensive barriers in health care and housing, profound isolation, and forced closeting of their identities as a form of basic self-protection.
'We Must Never Take Our Progress for Granted'
And when our progress is rolled back by the forces of intolerance and hatred, it should be no surprise that the most vulnerable are targeted. Trans young people are harassed, hounded and erased by ever-growing political attacks. People of color are scapegoated and abused in attacks on migrants, hate violence, and much more. Women are denied the most basic right to bodily autonomy.
We commit to marking LGBTQ+ History Month by leveraging the lessons from our lived experience history.
Fortunately, our history reminds us that we must never take our progress for granted and keep up the fight at every level of politics, in the courts of law, and in the court of public opinion. No matter what the odds are, we must always push forward.
When the AIDS epidemic was decimating our community and being used to sow hatred, we did not sink into our closets and give up — we fought back, came out in record numbers, and emerged stronger than ever. When political experts told us we had to leave behind our transgender community members to get legal protections for the rest of us, we said no and kept pushing for equality for all. We've rejected the advice of those who said that prioritizing our young people was too controversial and nobody would care about our old people and have pushed energetically for equality and equity across the life spectrum.
Inspired by this experience and wisdom, we must put intersectionality and inclusion at the forefront as we look toward the future and create an equitable infrastructure that supports and prioritizes our most vulnerable community members, including our elders. We won't let the long history of marginalizing LGBTQ+ people, people of color and elders repeat itself.
Instead, we commit to marking LGBTQ+ History Month by leveraging the lessons from our lived experience history. Doing this will help build an equitable and intersectional world that values our humanity and wisdom, honors our desires for a healthy and joyful future and puts the needs and interests of LGBTQ+ elders and the most vulnerable among us at the very center of our community's and country's priorities. Please, join us.
