As early as 1858, G. Tardieu reported on the age distribution of males imprisoned in France for sodomy. Of the 216 who ages were given, the age range from under 15 to 69, with a median age of under 25. Eliminating all under 18, the median age rises to almost 40.
In 1914, M. Hirschfeld reported on German males convicted of involvement in sodomy. The age distribution ranged from under 15 to over 50, with the median of 24 years. Since "over 50" was the last category, we cannot determine just how many, if any, attain the age of 65. But only 9 % were over 50.
In the late 1930s and 1940s, Kinsey and his investigators spent more than 12 years seeking out and interviewing homosexuals. Because Kinsey and his colleagues were regarded as sexual liberators, homosexuals were eager to volunteer for his study. There is no reason to believe that his sample was not representative of all age groups available. Yet fewer than 1% of his homosexuals, male as well as female, were over the age of 65.
The Mattachine Society, the earliest of the "gay rights" organizations, gathered together a representative group of homosexuals for Evelyn Hooker to study in her highly influential 1950s study. The oldest of the 30 subjects was 50, the next oldest was 44, and the median age was 33.
In the early 1960s, Berger attempted to draw a sampling of elderly homosexuals, but had to begin his scale at 40 years and only 34 of 112 were over the age of 59,
From 1969 through 1970, the Kinsey Institute surveyed homosexuals in San Francisco. Although they recruited respondents in eight different ways, only 23% of male homosexuals and only 18% of lesbians were over the age of 45, despite the fact that the investigators tried for 25% from this age group. Their initial decision to draw only a quarter of their sampling from homosexuals over 45 indicates they already knew the problem existed, and they ended up omitting figures on age distribution from their report.
In 1977, the largest survey of homosexuals reported 0.2% of its lesbians and 0.8% of its homosexual males were age 65 or older.
The Spada Report: The Newest Survey of Gay Male Sexuality, in 1978, reported the median age was 30, with only 2.5% over age 65. J. Spada was openly homosexual and polled 1,022 male homosexuals by mail.
An openly lesbian M. Mendola, in 1979, polled 405 homosexuals by mail. The median age of those polled was 34, and only 10% were 50 or over. Source: The Mendola Report: A New Look at Gay Couples.
From the mid 1970s’ to the early 1980s, interest in Gay Bowel Syndrome, sexually transmitted diseases, and hepatitis B generated a number of samples of the homosexual population.
- From 1977 through 1979, 102 homosexuals case histories were collected in Seattle and the oldest was 58.
- In 1979, 101 homosexuals who belonged to a group restricted to those over 40 was reported, and only 21 were over age 65.
- Also in 1979, 5,324 homosexual visitors to Denver’s STD clinic had a median age of 27, a mean age of 28.5 and the oldest was 67.
- In 1982, only one of 103 homosexuals examined in San Francisco was over the age of 65.
In 1994, an obituary study revealed that the median age of death for homosexual males was 42 and for lesbians was 49. Source: Cameron, Playfair, Wellum, " The Longevity of Homosexuals: Before and After the AIDS Epidemic, " Omega Journal of Death and Dying," 1994.
Pedro Zamora, 22, a well-known AIDS educator and a cast member of "The Real World" on MTV, died of complications from AIDS today at Mercy Hospital in Miami. Partly because he was among few young people speaking out about AIDS, partly because of his heart throb looks and easy manner, Zamora became one of the most sought-after speakers on the disease after he tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in 1989 at the age of 17. He took his prevention message into American living rooms as a young gay man with HIV on "The Real World." He would tell students that he got the virus through unprotected sex and that he would probably not live to reach 30. Before a television appearance in New York last August, Zamora fell ill with a neurological disorder, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, which causes rapid deterioration. He had been hospitalized since October 14th. Source: Mireya Navarro, "Life of 22 years ends, but not before many heard message on AIDS, The New York Times; November 12, 1994.
AIDS became the Leading cause of death among men from 25 to 44 in 1992 (in the U.S.). More than 250,000 people have died from AIDS or AIDS-related causes. About 75% of cases have been reported in the 25-to-44 age group. AIDS is also the leading cause of death in men and women in 79 of 169 American cities with population greater than 100,000. In the northeastern United States, where the rate of infection is higher among intravenous drug users than it is among gay men, the incidence of AIDS continues to rise. Although the AIDS epidemic seems to have stabilized among gay men in some areas of the country, there is evidence of a future second wave in that group, Dr. Jaffe said. He cited recent studies in San Francisco, Denver and Chicago showing an incidence of 2 to 3 % a year for new infections in gay men, a high number. Source: Lawrence K. Altman, " AIDS is now the leading killer of Americans from 25 to 44," The New York Times; January 31, 1995.
Nick Mattsson, as a gay man in his late 20’s, has never really known love or dating outside the shadow of AIDS and, though he knew few sick people, he associated being gay with getting AIDS and dying young. In San Francisco, two gay newspapers refused for a while to carry ads for HIV-negative groups, and in New York, there is much eye-rolling, if not outright hostility. "My lover was like: ‘What are you going to talk about,’" said one participant whose partner is HIV-positive. "Long-term retirement plans? 401(K)’s?" Despite optimism over available treatments, there will be no cure anytime soon. And with evidence that infection rates are rising among young men, the focus can no longer be solely on people with HIV. There is only one way, the thinking goes, to prevent another generation of gay men from dying.
Troy Masters, the publisher of LGNY, a biweekly lesbian and gay newspaper in New York, who is HIV-positive, said "It (is) cool to be HIV-positive and it shouldn’t be." Some will live, and others will die long before their time, and that the worries of men who do not have HIV are valid. Some of the (gay) men (coming into clinics or support groups) came in because they had a drug or alcohol problem, others because they were having unsafe sex, others because they just needed to talk about their lives as gay men and could not afford therapy.
Mattsson joined a group because he recognized that the sex he was having was unsafe and "out of control." Marc Davis, an equities analyst who is 29, joined (a group) largely because he was having an escalating problem with cocaine. Ben Stilp, 26, the communications director for the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, said he joined a group as a result of two strains in his life: a problem with drugs and, for the first time, meeting men who were infected. One, who became a good friend, was only 30. "This was going to be a battle for my life. And I would have to change some fundamental things about my life," said Stilp. Source: Ian Fisher, "To be young, gay, healthy…and alienated; New support Groups for the HIV-negative handle guilt, fear and isolation, The New York Times; July 14,1996
Life expectancy for a 20 year old gay or bisexual man is 8 to 20 years less than all men. The authors estimate that " nearly half of gay and bisexual men currently age 20 years will not reach their 65th birthday." Source: Hogg. RS., Strathdee, SA., Craib, KJP., O’Shaughnessy, MV., Montainer, JSG., Schechter, MT., " Modeling the impact of HIV Disease on Mortality in Gay and Bisexual Men," International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 26, No. 3, 1997, pp. 657-61.
In 1998, another study using four contemporary databases suggested that homosexual activity may be associated with a lifespan shortened by 20 to 30 years. Source: Cameron, P., Cameron, K., Playfair, WL., " Does Homosexual Activity Shorten Life? ", Psychological Reports, 1998, 83, pp. 847-66.
Conclusion:
Study after study reveals that homosexuality, whether male or female, can take anywhere from 10, 20 to 30 years off of someone’s lifespan. With all the attention on smoking, which the National Cancer Institute says takes from 7 to 10 years off someone’s life, why not the same human outcry on homosexuality? Here’s a behavior that’s killing people 2 to 3 times the rate of smoking, yet nobody seems to care. In fact, we are encouraging and affirming individuals into the "gay" lifestyle. If you truly love someone, you would steer them away from self-destructive behaviors, rather than towards them, shouldn’t you? Homosexuals need our tough love, not blind love, the kind of love that is going to love them no matter what they say and do. We must extend that helping hand and say " I think your worth saving, let’s work on it together."
http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/22SxSo/P nSx/HSx/hosx_lifspn.htm
blearg the differences between black ro white, or male or female, is extremely small a couple of yeas, while between hetero and homo is a couple of decades long with increased risk to every single STD out there
Actually there is a lot of talk in the LGBT political movement of late about how to properly deal with and care for the older members of our community.
In part because as people mature their lifestyles tend to mature as well, and as the most easily visible place for LGBT gatherings tends to be the local gay bar which, as with most bars, tends to skew young. Previously, it was easy for older LGBT people to lose their connection to the visible community. With the growth of activism, LGBT centers, LGBT and LGBT welcoming churches, and other social activities the older members of our community are increasingly rising in visibility. It is also harder to find older straight people of any particular type.
The older someone is the more likely they have faced extreme levels of homophobia, including personal, financial and legal danger. The closet was by and far the rule as we go back in US history simply for the sake of survival. Until the day they died, my grandparents never threw food away because they had been through the great depression. Don’t you think the history of violent oppression might affect the visibility of older LGBT people?
In addition, across the country of late there has been a lot of talk and financial investment in LGBT retirement communities. Obviously some investors have determined that there will be enough interested in such things as to make the risk of investment worth it.
A quarter of the American population has an STD. Most LGBT people will never contract AIDS. Those who strictly engage in safe sex do not have any significant risk factors. Ever growing numbers of straight people are getting AIDS -in large part because religious conservatives continue to try to characterize the disease as gay, instead of teaching their own youth how not to contract the disease.
There has never been any serious attempt to determine the numbers of LGBT people in the US. In fact, conservative religious groups are currently fighting such efforts out of fear that the numbers will come back high enough to influence political decisions. But honestly tracking LGBT people at this time in history, and on general principle, would be very problematic. The most we could know is how many people were willing to check the LGBT box on a survey.
Your whole argument is actually an argument from the religious right disguised as secular reasoning. The premise of this basic argument is that LGBT orientations are unhealthy, unnatural and lead to a bad life
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