In the Shadow of Sexuality:

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In the Shadow of Sexuality  Social Support and
Health Challenges in the Lives of Older African
American Sexual Minorities

• Mignon R. Moore, Ph.D.
• Associate Professor of Sociology and African
  American Studies
• Co-Director, Resource Centers for Minority Aging
  Research UCLA

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Moore, Mignon R. Invisible Families Gay
Identities, Relationships and Motherhood among
Black Women. (California Press, 2011)
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Health Domains

• Physical and mental health
• Access to health care
• Social support

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Research Aims

• 1. Assess major factors influencing physical
  health, mental health and access to medical care
  for older African American sexual minorities,
  determine the ways community institutions can
  better service them

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Research Aims

• 2. Qualitatively describe social context of
  aging, define characteristics of support systems,
  determine the directions of exchange these
  systems provide

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Research Aims

• 3. Combine the qualitative data with archival
  data to learn about the social histories of this
  group how they understood their own sexual
  orientation, race, and gender in the context of
  the social movements of that time

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Focus for Todays Presentation

• Qualitatively define the characteristics of
  support systems, determine the directions of
  exchange these systems provide

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Mental health, physical health, access to health
care are critical issues for this population

• High rates of HIV/AIDS among African
  American gay and bisexual men born before 1956
• Specific barriers in accessing health care
• Laws and policies discriminate against older LGBT
  adults

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Social Support

• The sources and functioning of social support may
  be different for older African American sexual
  minorities, relative to their heterosexual
  counterparts and White LGBT counterparts

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Social Support

• Resources that individuals provide each other
  includes affection, aid, and affirmation.
• Operates through direct and indirect means,
  across multiple dimensions
• Emotional support
• Instrumental assistance
• Informational assistance
• (Cohen Syme 1985 Crohan Antonucci 1989
  Berkman 1984 Martire et al 1999)

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Qualitative Interview Data

• Types In-depth interviews (50), focus group
  interviews (2), participant-observation field
  notes
• Descriptive Characteristics (N50)
• Men 40
• Women 60
• Mean Age 65 (born 1945)
• Age Range 54 81 years (born 1956-1929)
• LA 40 of sample NY 60 of sample

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Respondent (standing) at his fathers 90th
birthday party
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Findings

• Deteriorating health and lack of mobility
  pressing problems for 90 of respondents
• Social isolation and depression mentioned by
  almost everyone as well

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Esther Boward (b. 1937), retired nurse(all
names are pseudonyms)

• In our day it was not considered a good thing to
  have children. That was not encouraged. There
  was no community for that. Lesbians didnt have
  babiesEither adopting them or having them
  naturally was not sanctioned by the greater
  culture back in the late fifties and sixties. It
  just wasnt

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• The perception was you werent considered fit
  to raise a child, or that, more so in the male
  community, you and your partner might molest a
  child or influence a childs sexualityAll of
  those things were major prohibitions against
  having children.

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Findings

• Many older sexual minorities do not have children
  and are missing a key source of social support

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Findings

• Assumption in past research Homophobia results
  in emotionally distant relationships between LGBT
  people and their families of origin
• Current study suggests Racialized sexual
  minority elders may maintain closer kin
  relationships than what has been assumed in past
  research

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Thomas OMalley (b.1949), retired postal worker

• I guess I never really been comfortable with
  being gay, even now...If someone asks me if I am
  gay, I wont answer them directly. I would ask
  them, So why do you want to know? Why are you
  concerned? Are you interested or something? Turn
  it back on them you know, and I never answer
  them. Even my son. Well my nephew that I raised.
  I call him my son

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• He asked me a couple of times and I just told
  him You know what? Whatever my sexual preference
  is, is not your business. I said,
• Straight or gay. I dont feel like the
• parents should discuss their sex life with
  their children.
• And that is how I left it. And that is
  basically the answer I give anybody, even now.

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Thomas OMalley

• I am the oldest in the group of my siblings. I
  dont want to be the leader. I dont want to be
  the person in charge. I am sick of it and I think
  because I am gay and it has been known since
  before birth, so I think that people do tend to
  go to that person that they can depend on. That
  they can rely on and for me,

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• many people in the gay and lesbian community,
  they are that person that people will come to,
  and Im tired of it. I love my family. Love them
  dearly and I know they will give a whole bunch of
  lives for me, but they still look at you as that
  resource for information, for money.

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Darlene Clark (b. 1951), retired film producer

• (excerpt from Focus Group)
• Yeah like my brothers told me, they say, Youre
  the matriarch of the family. Im the youngest.
  Im the youngest. I said, We still got a sister
  who is older than me. Why dont you go bug her?
  They reply But youre the matriarch.
• James Woodson We put ourselves in that position
  sometimes...We take care of the sick, the
  shut-in, the elderly and it seems like we
  sometimes put our lives on hold.

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Darlene Clark

• Actually we took care of Mama and Daddy as soon
  as we started making two dimes because we didnt
  have little crumb-snatchers children. We took
  care of them our parents and theyve started to
  rely on us for everything throughout life and
  then when they passed on, then of course, here
  comes their other children our siblings. Coming
  to you for this, that, and the other.

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Findings

• Assumption in past research Social support as
  one-way exchange of resources, LGBT people
  primarily as recipients of support
• This work suggests social support is a
  multi-directional exchange, where older LGBT
  racial minorities maintain close relations with
  kin/community members, provide support

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Penelope Ford, retired educator (b. 1941)

• Men, their situation looks a little different
  from lesbian women because of AIDS. I know men
  who have no friends left. Theyve had two or
  three partners to die from AIDS. They are HIV
  positive themselves or they have AIDS and they
  are living with it. So, the picture in the mens
  community is a little different from the picture
  in the womens community in terms of aging LBGT
  people.

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Findings

• African-American gay men in this age cohort
• may organize and maintain partnerships in
• ways that are distinct from heterosexual
• marital relationships
• Fewer restrictions around sexual monogamy
• Partners maintain separate households
• Limited mingling of resources
• Legally marrying someone of the opposite sex to
  appear heterosexual

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Summary

• LGBT elders face unique barriers to successful
  aging. They often lack traditional support
  systems in the form of cohabiting marital
  partners and children.
• Social stigma, both historical and contemporary,
  based in sexual orientation as well as race, make
  it harder for this population to achieve elements
  of healthy aging.

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Policy Implications

• How we conceptualize open and hidden
  expressions of gay sexuality in older cohorts
• The relationships aging sexual minorities have
  with kin
• The development of interventions to address
  health inequities for this population
• Collaborations between mainstream aging
  organizations and LGBT groups can help increase
  awareness of their needs and improve community
  services

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Policy Recommendations

1. Increase funding for and provision of LGBT elder
   programs
2. Provide immediate access to LGBT-based care
3. Provide education, tools, and legal services to
   LGBT elders
4. Advocate for greater research on LGBT older
   adults
5. Create a national public discussion about LGBT
   aging issues

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Acknowledgements

• This research was supported by the University of
  California, Los Angeles, Center for Health
  Improvement of Minority Elderly/Resource Centers
  for Minority Aging Research, NIH/NIA, under Grant
  P30AG021684. I thank Taquesha Brannon for
  research assistance, and Ron Andersen for his
  mentorship.