Abuse and older lesbian, gay bisexual, and trans (LGBT) people: a commentary and research agenda

ABSTRACT

With increasing visibility of older lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people, there is an urgent need to understand abuse in their lives. This is an under-researched area, which this scoping study (based on a literature review and a small subset of data taken from a larger project) serves to demonstrate. The content of this article formed the basis of a paper presented at a workshop on ‘LGBT Elder Abuse’ held at Keele University(UK) in 2017, convened and chaired by the author. It considers LGBT elder abuse in terms of polyvictimisation, intersectionality and the abuse of power. The identifies knowledge gaps, proposes a research agenda, and explains why such an agenda matters. In particular, the need for researchers of elder abuse, LGBT domestic abuse and organisational abuse to cut across their traditional boundaries of inquiry in order to address how the abuse of older LGBT people intersects with each domain

KEYWORDS:

• Power
• abuse
• older LGBT
• intersectionality
• diversity

Acknowledgments

This article is an expanded version of a presentation “Abuse in the Lives of LGBT Older People” given at a workshop, chaired and convened by the author, entitled “LGBT “elder abuse”: Scoping future research possibilities.” Held on September 14, 2017, the workshop was funded and hosted by Keele University’s School of Law and Keele Centre for Ageing Research (KCAR).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For further information on methodology, see Westwood, 2016a.

2. Cis is the abbreviation for cisgender, the term for those who identify with the (sole) gender they were assigned at birth.

3. Same sex marriage had not yet been made lawful in the United Kingdom at the time of the interviews; only civil partnerships were available at that time.

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen_Silent