A new study reveals the truth about ageism in the LGBTI community | Photo: Pixabay
Three quarters of us think the LGBTI bar scene, dating apps and LGBTI people generally are ageist.
That’s according to a new survey about ageism and getting older in the LGBTI community, conducted by Gay Star News and sponsored by Barclays.
Over 3,000 people completed the survey. Of this number, around 35% were retired, while 65% were not.
The study, conducted for the inaugural LGBTI Founders’ Day (Monday 24 September 2018), also reveals LGBTI people’s attitudes to finances, retirement and health. We will be publishing more results over the course of the week.
What do we think about ageism?
Respondents were asked ‘Do you think the LGBTI+ community is ageist?’ We broke the question down to reveal attitudes to the bar and club scene, LGBTI organisations, hook-up apps and other LGBTI people.
Asked if the ‘LGBTI community generally’ is ageist, 43% said ‘totally’, 34% said ‘a little’, 12% said ‘maybe’, 7% said ‘not really’ and 1% said ‘absolutely not.’
Asked if LGBTI community members on ‘dating/hook up apps’ were ageist, 60% said ‘totally’. Then 16% said ‘a little’, 6% said ‘maybe’, 3% said ‘not really’ and 0.89% said absolutely not.’
As for LGBTIs on the bar and club scene, 56% said they were ‘totally’ ageist. ‘A little’ scored 21%, ‘maybe’ was 8%, 5% said ‘not really’ and 0.89% said ‘absolutely not. Then 9.33% said absolutely not.
Despite this fear of ageism, most people said they were honest about their age on hook-up apps and with dates.
Of non-retired people, 6% of people said they ‘never’ tell the truth about their age with hook-ups and apps: 6% said ‘rarely’ and 9% said ‘sometimes’.
Meanwhile 3% of retired people said they ‘never’ tell dates their true age, while 3% said ‘rarely’ and 7% said ‘sometimes’.
33% of non-retired people hope they will have more sex when they are older
However, some of the results offered a more positive insight into LGBTI people’s attitudes towards older people and ageing.
Asked ‘What do you think are the best things about getting older?’, 71% of non-retired respondents said wisdom and experience. Meanwhile 13% said ‘looking older is hot.’
Also, 33% said the hope they will have more sex when they are older.
When asked what age they consider ‘old’ the average response from non-retired respondents was 70.
Conversely, the average age cited by retired respondents was 78.
What is LGBTI Founders’ Day?
Gay Star News created LGBTI Founders’ Day to tackle ageism.
It promotes the idea that the LGBTI world owes our current freedom to the older generations. Furthermore, Founders’ Day will emphasise that older LGBTIs are very much at the heart of our community today and have wisdom and experience to pass on to younger people.
