The LGBTQIA+ Aging Community
The Maryland Department of Aging is committed to working to improve the quality of services and supports offered to LGBTQIA+ older adults, their families, and caregivers.
More than 250,000 residents, or 4.2 percent of Marylanders identify as LGBTQIA+, each of whom makes meaningful contributions to our communities, economy, culture, arts, and history. According to UCLA's Williams Institute, 7 percent of LGBTQIA+ adults in Maryland are aged 65 or older. While the older LGBTQIA+ population has been largely invisible until very recently, positive strides have been made to improve the lives of the LGBTQIA+ community, and many older adults have felt comfortable enough to "come out of the closet."
Despite advances, LGBTQIA+ older adults often face an array of unique barriers and inequalities that can stand in the way of a healthy and rewarding later life. Unfortunately, LGBTQIA+ older adults are twice as likely to be single and three to four times more likely to be without children than their heterosexual counterparts. This makes living alone more likely, which can then lead to financial struggles, an elevated risk of isolation, hostile living environments, or even homelessness.
Moore/Miller Administration Supports LGBTQIA+ Community
The Maryland Department of Aging supports the LGBTQIA+ community, including LBGTQIA+ older adults, and aligns with the Moore-Miller Administration which has defended LGBTQIA+ civil rights and approved legislation protecting those rights.
Since becoming Governor, Wes Moore has stated his intent to protect and celebrate the contributions, resilience, courage, and joy of LGBTQIA+ Marylanders, while also recognizing the progress made towards full equality and equity for the LGBTQIA+ community and work that still needs to be done.
"In Maryland, we lead with love and inclusion. I want everyone in our LGBTQIA+ community to know that they deserve to be seen for who they are, and our administration will stand with them in the fight for equality and equity,” Gov. Moore said.
On March 31, 2023, Governor Moore became the first governor in the state's history to proclaim
International Transgender Day of Visibility in Maryland. In addition, Gov. Moore has signed the
Trans Health Equity Act into law, which requires Maryland Medicaid to provide additional coverage for gender-affirming care beginning January 1, 2024.
Maryland's Restoration of Honor Act
During President Lincoln's second inaugural address, he made a promise to “care for those who shall have borne the battle." This promise guides all of us who work in Veterans Affairs. However, we must not forget the first part of Lincoln's quote when he said we must do this “with malice toward none, with charity for all…"
Serving all who have served is a priority of the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs, and it's personal for me.
In 2008, I was discharged from the Army under the “Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, which barred members of the LGBTQ community from serving openly in the military. That experience shapes the way I approach the work we do on behalf of Maryland's 350,000 veterans and their families.
That's why I'm proud of our Department's work to implement Maryland's Restoration of Honor Act, which states that if you were discharged from the military with “something other than an honorable" discharge for your sexual orientation or gender identity, you are still entitled to state-level benefits. I'm also proud that we've created a partnership with the University of Baltimore Law School to help veterans get their discharge statuses upgraded at the federal level.
When it comes to serving veterans from populations that are at risk, we're obligated to go above and beyond for them, and it's an honor to do this work alongside so many of you across the state.
~MDVA Secretary Anthony Woods
What Does LGBTQIA+ Mean?
Where a variety of orientations and identities had previously been referred to as "the gay community" and later "the gay and lesbian community," the acronym LGBTQIA+ eventually evolved as a way to be more inclusive of other identities. The acronym is used to represent a diverse range of sexualities and gender-identities, and stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or sometimes questioning), intersex, asexual, and other. See below for a description of each letter:
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L (Lesbian): A lesbian is a woman/woman-aligned person who is attracted to only people of the same/similar gender.
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G (Gay): Gay is usually a term used to refer to men/men-aligned individuals who are only attracted to people of the same/similar gender. However, lesbians can also be referred to as gay. The use of the term gay became more popular during the 1970s. Today, bisexual and pansexual people sometimes use gay to casually refer to themselves when they talk about their similar gender attraction.
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B (Bisexual): Bisexual indicates an attraction to all genders. The recognition of bisexual individuals is important, since there have been periods when people who identify as bi have been misunderstood as being gay. Bisexuality has included transgender, binary and nonbinary individuals since the release of the "Bisexual Manifesto" in 1990.
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T (Transgender): Transgender is a term that indicates that a person's gender identity is different from the gender associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.
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Q (Queer or Questioning): Though queer may be used by people as a specific identity, it is often considered an umbrella term for anyone who is non-cisgender or heterosexual. But it is also a slur. It should not be placed on all members of the community, and should only be used by cisgender and heterosexual individuals when referring to a person who explicitly identifies with it. Questioning refers to people who may be unsure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
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I (Intersex): A term to describe individuals who are born with variations of sex characteristics that do not fit with binary definitions of male or female bodies.
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A (Asexual): Sometimes shorted to "ace," this term refers to someone who has little or no sexual attraction; they may, however, experience romantic attraction.
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+ (Plus): The 'plus' is used to signify all of the gender identities and sexual orientations that are not specifically covered by the other five initials. An example is Two-Spirit, a pan-Indigenous American identity.
