TPC-Journal-V1-Issue1

58 The Professional Counselor \ Volume 1, Issue 1 specific knowledge about abuse for older adult LGBT persons (Moore, 2000). Thus, in the vast majority of situations, mainstream services for older adults are not meeting the specific and unique needs of the older adult LGBT population (Slusher, Mayer, & Dunkle, 1996). Older adult LGBT individuals have lived through distinctively oppressive social climates for sexual minorities compared to more recent generations. Their early developmental years were marked by a typically homophobic culture in which homosexuality was overtly and profoundly admonished, and included messages from national and local leaders that their sexuality was immoral, pathological, and often illegal. For example, the old old grew up in an era during which President Eisenhower ordered all homosexuals to be fired from government jobs and Senator McCarthy sought to ‘expose’ communists and homosexuals (Kimmel, 2002). Without a more organized movement in place in that era to combat the rampant homophobia and negative stereotyping, blatant fear and dislike of homosexuality was seen in nearly all political, educational, and religious institutions. Indeed, the general lack of support for LGBT individuals in religious institutions continues today, leaving many in the position of a forced choice between two fundamental components of their sense of self: spirituality and sexuality. “In turn, this conflict can manifest itself through internalized disorders, such as depression, or through externalized disorders, such as risky or suicidal behavior” (Mabey, 2007, p. 226). However, it is important for professional counselors to be aware of the distinction many older adult LGBT persons make between spirituality and religiosity; religious dogma against homosexuality does not prevent many LGBT individuals from maintaining a strong spiritual identity (Mabey, 2007; Orel, 2004). The young old, though, became adults during a time of more relatively progressive changes in society. The Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village in 1969, in which gay and transgender individuals physically fought back against unjust police harassment, marked a milestone in what would eventually become the modern gay rights movement. In the mid-1970s, homosexuality was finally declassified as a mental disorder within both the American psychiatric and psychological professional communities (but only after decades of miseducating medical and mental health professionals about the pathologic nature of sexual minorities). As professional counselors work with an aging LGBT population, it is important to consider this historically negative climate which shaped an individual’s experiences with, and impressions of, her or his own sexual identity (Berger, 1982). For the older adult LGBT individual, consequently, there might exist a sense of internalized homophobia (D’Augelli, Grossman, Hershberger, & O’Connell, 2001; Heaphy, 2007; Porter, Russell, & Sullivan, 2004) that contributes to nonparticipation in LGBT-supportive services and associated diminished overall mental health. These individuals also are less likely to seek any general health services for fear of having to disclose their sexual orientation to a possibly homophobic provider (Brotman, Ryan, & Cormier, R., 2003; Grossman, D’Augelli, & Dragowski, 2007; Sussman-Skalka, 2001). For example, refer to Zodikoff (2006) for vignettes that highlight unique aspects of social work practice with a diverse and aging LGBT population. Aging and Individuality Professional counselors should recognize that an older adult LGBT individual does not belong to one homogenous group within the LGBT acronym. For example, a gay youth living in New York City at the time of the Stonewall Riots will have experienced the movement in vastly different ways than, say, a gay youth then living in the rural Midwest. Similarly, a transgender individual involved in the Stonewall Riots will have faced different experiences than a gay male in those same riots because of the greater concealment of transgender individuals. Cook-Daniels (1997) wrote, “Lesbian and Gay male elders have been called an ‘invisible’ population (Cruikshank, 1991). If they are invisible, then transgendered elders have been inconceivable” (p. 35). Transgender older adults also face unique challenges apart from those who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual (Cook-Daniels, 2006). For example, health concerns for those transitioning from male to female (MTF) or female to male (FTM) are greater because surgeries become more complicated with age. However, there has been a significant increase in the number of those willing to face the risk of transitioning in later life because of vastly improved methods of electronic communication about options, new research, and medical procedures (Cook-Daniels, 2006). Another challenge to older adult transgender individuals is that most older adults in society, including gay and lesbian older adults, have well-established social roles and relationships. Thus, MTF or FTM transitioning becomes more difficult