Coming Out
The challenges of coming out for many doesn’t get any easier with time, and for many it gets worse. For many people over the age of 65, there is reluctance for coming after years of living through eras of homophobia, and end up losing the life that they have already crafted. The fear of social and health disparity.
Isolation is a major concern. In a study “ 60% of surveyed LGBT older adults reported feeling a lack of companionship, and over 50% reported feeling isolated from others”(UCLA). By coming out, many can become detached from their already established social groups “ family, church”, and face the challenge of having to completely restart late in life.
Thirteen percent of older LGBTQ members have been denied health care, and LGBT people are only twenty percent as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to access services like senior centers and meal programs (lgbtagingcenter.org) . For residents that are in senior centers, they find themselves being recloseted, in effort to avoid discrimination.