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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The baby boom generation has lived through a period of tremendous cultural change, including significant shifts in social attitudes toward, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) issues. As they plan for retirement and for their eventual long-term care and end-of-life needs, GLBT baby boomers share in the hopes and experiences that characterize the largest generation in American history. At the same time, however, they reflect certain unique family structures and gender role differences—and they confront distinct concerns about caregiving, social support networks, retirement and end-of-life planning. In February 2006, in partnership with the MetLife Mature Market Institute, the Lesbian and Gay Aging Issues Network of the American Society on Aging undertook the first U. S. national survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender baby boomers. A sample of 1, 000 self-identified GLBT people ages 40 to 61 participated in an online survey conducted by Zogby International, a leading polling and public-opinion research firm. 3 3. The age range used in this report is slightly greater than the age range typically used to define the baby boom generation. On the advice of the research advisory panel, the survey included 40-year-olds and 61-year olds, thus adding one year at each end of the range. By doing so, the resulting data not only permits meaningful statements about baby boomers, but also enables useful comparisons to the age cohorts customarily studied in many of the existing studies on midlife and aging in general. The snapshot of GLBT baby boomers that emerges from the survey raises important questions for the wide range of professionals who work with older adults, employers, policymakers, and everyone interested in ensuring dignity, independence and the highest possible quality of life for the boomer generation as it reaches midlife and old age. Caregiving and Social Support Networks One in four respondents said that they had provided care for an adult friend or family member within the last six months. This high incidence of caregiving is particularly surprising, as previous studies of the U. S. population as a whole have found only one in five adults is a caregiver. 4 4. National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, Caregiving in the U. S. (Bethesda, Md.: National Alliance for Caregiving, 2004) ; funded by the MetLife Foundation. Strikingly, about the same proportions of gay and bisexual men and lesbian and bisexual women are serving as caregivers. In contrast, recent studies of the general population have found that only between 25% and 44% of caregivers are male. 5 5. Caregiving in the U. S. found that 39 percent of caregivers are men. A smaller study by the National Family Caregivers Alliance reported that 44 percent are men; see Caregiver Survey 2000 (Kensington, Md.: National Family Caregivers Alliance, 2000). A Family Caregiver Alliance fact sheet cites government and foundation studies showing that between 25 percent and 41 percent of caregivers are male; see "Selected Caregiver Statistics" retrieved June 30, 2006, from www. caregiver. org/caregiver/jsp/contentₙode. jsp? node: d=439. The relatively even percentages of male and female GLBT caregivers in this study suggest that gay and bisexual men may be providing care much more frequently than men in the overall U. S. population. More than one-third (36%) of GLBT boomers who are caregivers are caring for parents, while about half as many (18%) are caring for their partners. An additional 14% are caring for friends and another 12% are caring for other nonrelatives. Even though at least three-quarters of the respondents expect to become caregivers for someone else, almost one in five reported being unsure who will take care of them when the need arises. This was especially the case for those without partners or spouses, of whom more than one-third said they are not sure who would provide them with needed care. In addition to close ties with their families of origin, more than three-quarters of the respondents have important connections with what researchers have called families of choice—close friends who are "like family" or "like a second or extended family. " Concerns about Aging and Retirement Both lesbian and bisexual women as well as gay and bisexual men share a concern about their financial stability as they age into retirement. For women, their greatest fear is outliving their income as they age. For men, their great fear is becoming dependent upon others and becoming sick or disabled. More than a quarter (27%) of GLBT boomers reported great concern about discrimination as they age, and less than half expressed strong confidence that healthcare professionals will treat them "with dignity and respect. " Fears of insensitive and discriminatory treatment by healthcare professionals are particularly strong among lesbians, of whom 12% said they have absolutely no confidence that they will be treated respectfully. GLBT baby boomers clearly want to spend their final days in the comfort of their own homes. Nearly half (47%) said they would like their end-of-life care to take place in their current residence with the help of hospice care, followed at a distant second by 16 percent who would prefer to spend their final days in their current homes without hospice care. Lesbian and bisexual women appear to be less financially prepared for the end of life. For instance, they are notably less likely than their male counterparts to have purchased long-term care insurance or to have written wills. One half (51%) of GLBT baby boomers have yet to complete wills or living wills spelling out their long-term care and end-of-life wishes—yet such documents are particularly important for GLBT older adults given the current lack of legal protection for GLBT couples and families. Almost 40 percent of respondents believe that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender has helped them prepare for aging in some way. They have developed positive character traits, greater resilience, or better support networks as a consequence of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
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