MAMH Blog
Aging with Pride: LGBTQIA+ Identity, Behavioral Health, and the Importance of Affirming Care
Aug 4, 2026
Today's LGBTQIA+ older adults lived through decades of resilience, advocacy, and hard-won social change. Yet they also carry experiences of discrimination, stigma, and exclusion that continue to affect behavioral health and well-being.
OABHN intern Claire Harris is passionate about connecting older and younger members of the LGBTQIA+ community. This spring, they partnered with Gen2GenQ to host a Saint Patrick’s Day event at Pryde, the first LGBTQIA+ senior housing community in New England, which opened in 2024. The event featured a discussion on the landmark case Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc., which emerged after an Irish LGBTQ group was barred from participating in Boston's historic St. Patrick's Day Parade. The case became a defining moment in the struggle for LGBTQIA+ visibility and inclusion. The Irish LGB group is still banned from the parade to this day.
Claire is pictured above (at right) with other speakers during Older Adult Lobby day.
Claire understands the value of learning from the experiences of older generations. Today's LGBTQIA+ older adults lived through decades of resilience, advocacy, and hard-won social change. Yet they also carry experiences of discrimination, stigma, and exclusion that continue to affect behavioral health and well-being.
As one former Behavioral Health Outreach for Aging Populations (BHOAP) client recalled, “When I was young, police would pick you up if you had a sashay in your step.” He recalled recently seeing a young LGBTQIA+ couple holding hands in public. “It brought tears to my eyes. I told them how happy it made me, and they said ‘thanks for paving the way for us.’”
Many LGBTQIA+ older adults came of age during a time when homosexuality was criminalized and labeled as “mental illness.” Openly expressing one's identity could result in arrest, job loss, family rejection, or violence. The impact of these experiences extends beyond individual acts of discrimination. Many LGBTQIA+ older adults describe profound grief related to growing up in a society where only their heterosexual peers could openly celebrate their relationships, marry, raise children, and grow old with their partners. Gen Silent, a 2011 documentary, highlights these issues by following the lives of a handful of Massachusetts LGBTQIA+ older adults who have had to hide and fight to receive affirming care.
Caption Scene's from the St. Patrick's Day Pryde event.
Claire represented the Older Adult Behavioral Health Network at Older Adult Lobby Day this spring. In their speech, they emphasized the importance of non-judgmental and affirming care provided by programs like BHOAP:
“BHOAP works because it is relationship-based, flexible, and deeply person-centered. It allows clinicians the time to meet people where they are, especially those who have been historically pushed aside, like LGBTQIA+ older adults who face unique barriers to safe and affirming care. BHOAP prevents evictions. It reduces hospitalizations. It helps people age safely in their communities, with dignity. This includes LGBTQIA+ older adults, who often face lifelong experiences of stigma, discrimination, and fear of mistreatment in healthcare and social services. Many delay or avoid care altogether because they do not feel safe or affirmed. BHOAP’s approach of nonjudgmental, relationship-based, and culturally responsive care creates space for trust to build, ensuring that LGBTQIA+ older adults can access care without fear and age in place with dignity, safety, and respect.”
OABHN recently reached out to the Allison Bauer, the new director of the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQIA Aging. The Commission convenes quarterly and holds listening sessions around the Commonwealth with the mission of enhancing the quality of life for LGBTQIA+ older adults in Massachusetts through state policy and program recommendations, collaborations, partnerships, and advocacy. “Older adults talk about feeling invisible. This is exacerbated by LGBTQIA identities,” Allison explains. “People started their lives hiding, but as society became more accepting, many were finally able to live more openly and authentically. Today, however, a changing political climate and renewed attacks on LGBTQ rights are causing many to feel that sense of invisibility returning, reopening historical trauma. Aging is challenging enough, but it becomes even more difficult to access compassionate, affirming care in a world where your identity is questioned, marginalized, or erased. But as they're aging and the political climate has changed, invisibility returns, as does historical trauma. It's really hard to get care in a world trying to erase you.”
The commission will be attending the Older Adult Behavioral Health Collaborative’s (OABHN) September meeting to host a discussion on LGBTQIA+ responsive older adult behavioral health support. To attend this and other OABHN meetings and opportunities, contact Cassie Cramer.
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