Midlife and aging in gay America : proceedings of the SAGE Conference 2000

D. Kimmel, D. Martin

SAGE (Senior Action in a Gay Environment) is a social service agency and intergenerational group that seeks to improve the quality of life for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons of all ages, ethnic/racial groups, and walks of life. When SAGE began in 1977, one goal was to eliminate the myth that aging as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender person was a dreadful experience of loneliness and despair. Young people need to know that coming into the gay community can lead to a long and fulfilling life that offers great potential for creativity, friendship, love, and adventure. Everyone has the opportunity to invent their lives as they see fit, since there are no strict roles established by society. For this reason, role models such as those represented by older lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders are especially important for young and middle-aged persons to know and to emulate. Presenters at the second nationwide conference sponsored by SAGE in New York City in May 2000 submitted the articles in this issue. Everyone was invited to send in an article or brief reports and members of the journal's editorial board reviewed these. Those that were accepted were revised and are presented here. They represent a diversity of topics and interests-a diversity almost as great as that represented by SAGE itself.The issue is organized into four sections. First, the keynote speeches are summarized by way of introduction to the importance of the topic for the broader society. Virginia Apuzzo is an openly lesbian, white, and a national leader in the political movement for equal rights for persons of all sexual orientations and was Assistant to President Clinton for Management and Administration; her closing speech gave the conference their "marching orders" for renewed social action on aging issues.Billy Jones is an openly gay, African-American psychiatrist, who has been prominent in the health care system of New York City; he discusses his own experience of growing older. Rose Dobrof is openly heterosexual and jewish; she has been a member of the advisory board of SAGE since its inception and has been a national leader in the field of aging as a social worker and educator. Tina Donovan is a 61-year-old transgender woman who, in her response to the keynote speeches, gives a firsthand testimonial concerning the struggles of being transgender and getting older.The second section is a series of three articles presenting general overviews on the issues and concerns of older lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults. Arnold Grossman and his colleagues have conducted one of the largest and most representative studies of this population to date. Lester Brown and colleagues report on four ethnographic studies of older gay men. James Kelly and Raymond Berger, pioneers in the field of gay male aging, summarize their own work.The third section presents general topics of interest. John Yoakam discusses intergenerational relationships of older and younger gay men, recently displayed in popular films such as Gods and Monsters. Steven Mock reports on a study of the retirement intentions of same-sex couples. Kristina Hash describes her pilot study of caregiving experiences of older gay men and lesbians. Carol Sussman-Skalka describes vision problems and issues for older adults. Doneley Meris reports on his research among homeless HIV-infected gay men.<Copies are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Center. The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580, USA>