LGBTQ Older Adults: What We Know and Where We Need to Go

Join us for a discussion with Charlie Pitre Hoy-Ellis, PhD, LCSW Assistant Professor, The University of Utah College of Social Work.

From Hoy-Ellis: "Health, health disparities, and the pursuit of health equity among marginalized populations form the core of my research agenda, theoretically grounded within the Health Equity Promotion Model (HEPM). This framework builds upon minority stress by incorporating resilience, life course, and lifespan developmental perspectives. I am particularly interested in the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) midlife and older adults. Researchers have only recently begun to examine LGBTQ older adults as a population distinct from heterosexual older adults, and from their younger LGBTQ peers. For example, compared to their heterosexual age peers, midlife and older LGBTQ adults have significantly higher rates of many chronic physical conditions and poor mental health outcomes. I am focused on understanding multilevel, multidimensional causes, correlates, and consequences of these health disparities and the remarkable resilience of LGBTQ midlife and older adults."

Today’s LGBTQ midlife and older adults were the vanguard generation that resisted dominant historical discourses of sickness and perversion to pave a cultural yellow brick road that led to pride and liberation. Join us as we explore
how LGBTQ older adults have informed what we know about aging with pride, and where we need to go to promote health equity for today’s and tomorrow’s generations of queer midlife and older adults.