Experiences and Concerns
Caregiving
Currently, about 63 million Americans provide family caregiving in the United States, with special analysis of AARP’s 2025 Caregiving in the US showing about 1 in 10 family caregivers (or roughly 5.7 million people) identifying as LGBTQ+. Among them, about 3 million LGBTQ+ people are providing care for adults over 50, services valued at about $1 billion annually. Many in this role are dealing with the stress, pressures, and mental/physical exhaustion that often accompany this labor of love.
The majority of LGBTQ+ adults age 45-plus who are performing caregiving duties say they feel emotionally stressed by those responsibilities, and half say they have felt obligated to provide care when they did not want to.
More than 6 in 10 LGBTQ+ adults age 45-plus have been or are currently caregivers (62%). Lesbian and bisexual adults are more likely to report being caregivers (both 66%), compared to gay men (58%) and transgender adults (60%).
A higher proportion of 45-plus lesbian, bisexual, and transgender adults report feeling emotionally stressed due to their caregiving responsibilities (75%, 78%, and 75%, respectively) and feeling obligated to provide care when they do not want to (50%, 55%, and 53%, respectively), compared to gay men 45-plus (feeling emotionally stressed 69%, feeling obligated 48%). Some older LGBTQ+ family caregivers face unique and painful challenges, including 1in 7 (14%) who feel obligated to provide care to someone who is not accepting of their identity. Among older transgender respondents, that figure is more than 1 in 4 (28%).
Percent who feel emotionally stressed due to caregiving responsibilities and who feel obligated to provide care when they do not want to
Among LGBTQ+ adults 45+, by sexual orientation
Feel emotionally stressed
| Group | Percent |
|---|---|
| Gay men | 69% |
| Lesbians | 75% |
| Bisexual adults | 78% |
| Transgender adults | 75% |
Feel obligated to provide care
| Group | Percent |
|---|---|
| Gay men | 48% |
| Lesbians | 50% |
| Bisexual adults | 55% |
| Transgender adults | 53% |
Discrimination
Many members of the LGBTQ+ community worry about discrimination. More than half are very concerned about discrimination due to their sexual orientation, and a significant segment of this population is concerned about discrimination based on their age, race, or ethnicity.
- More than half of older LGBTQ+ respondents are very concerned about discrimination due to their sexual orientation (54% report being very or extremely concerned), with bisexual and lesbian adults most likely to be very concerned.
- Nearly half of older LGBTQ+ respondents are very concerned about age discrimination (49% report being very or extremely concerned). Fewer gay men are very concerned about age discrimination (44%) than lesbian adults (54%), bisexual adults (55%), and transgender adults (52%).
- More than half of older LGBTQ+ respondents are very concerned about racial or ethnic discrimination. In particular, 8 in 10 Black LGBTQ+ adults are very concerned about racial or ethnic discrimination (79% report being very or extremely concerned).
Percent very or extremely concerned about discrimination by…
Among older LGBTQ+ adults
| Type of discrimination | Percent |
|---|---|
| Sexual orientation | 48% |
| Age | 50% |
| Race/ethnicity | 55% |
Many LGBTQ+ community members face compounded discrimination based on their intersectional identities. One AARP study finds that half of Black LGBTQ+ age 50-plus adults have experienced discrimination based on both their sexual orientation or gender identity and their race.
Discrimination also negatively impacts the careers, finances, and personal relationships of older LGBTQ+ adults. Approximately half of LGBTQ+ adults 45-plus who are currently employed fear age-based discrimination in future job prospects.
In some cases, these fears of discrimination may make people hesitant to be open about their sexual orientation or gender identity. Javier, a 57-year-old member of the LGBTQ+ community in Boise, Idaho, says that he asks himself: “Do I want to reveal myself to them? Especially in work situations and stuff like that. And you have to think, ‘Am I protected? Will I get fired from my job because of my sexual orientation? Will this person reject me?’”
Not surprisingly, discrimination — or the fear of experiencing it — can have a negative impact on well-being. Among older LGBTQ+ adults, 1 in 4 say that age discrimination has a strong impact on their health (1 in 3 for transgender adults). Further, nearly half of older Black LGBTQ+ adults indicate that racial or ethnic discrimination has a strong effect on their health.
Healthcare
I am more conscious of how disruptive health problems can be, especially if they mean you lose independence. I am healthy and independent now, but I have no guarantee that will last forever.
-LGBTQ+ woman, age 69
Nearly 4 in 10 LGBTQ+ adults 45 and older consider themselves in very good or excellent health, and roughly the same amount report having a disability or chronic disease. Half of those individuals say that the disability or chronic disease prevents them from fully engaging in activities. Among older LGBTQ+ individuals, Black adults are more likely to have a chronic disease or disability.
Older LGBTQ+ adults have a diverse set of health care experiences and needs, such as access to gender-affirming care and supportive providers, aging with HIV, or a lack of access to inclusive, employer-provided coverage.
Tristan, a 47-year-old member of the LGBTQ+ community in the California’s San Francisco Bay Area, reflected, “Healthcare-wise, it can always be a challenge to find medical professionals who are queer- and trans-affirming. As you age and different things come up, you start to need doctors more. When I was younger, it didn’t really occur to me how important it was to find good medical providers. And now that I’m aging and starting to need a lot more medical care, that matters. And then how I get treated in those settings really matters.”
Others worry about how they or their family could be treated in an emergency medical care context. One participant noted that among the many reasons they decided to pursue legal marriage with their partner was that they “have had concerns about having my partner help me in hospital settings as a queer person.”
Overall, older LGBTQ+ adults in our research report having positive relationships with their health care providers. For example, a majority of older LGBTQ+ adults (57%) strongly agree that they trust their doctor. Gay men are more likely to strongly agree that they trust their doctor (64%) compared to lesbian, bisexual, and transgender adults (53%, 49%, and 56%, respectively).
However, there are opportunities to improve care. One in 4 older LGBTQ+ adults (24%) indicates having a problem with the quality of health care they received in the last year, including more than 1 in 3 older transgender adults (36%). Fewer than 4 in 10 older LGBTQ+ adults (38%) say their doctor understands their unique health issues related to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Socioeconomic Status
While almost all older LGBTQ+ adults feel financial security is very important to their quality of life, just over a third (36%) consider their financial health — meaning their ability to spend, save, borrow, and plan – to be excellent or very good. Nearly two-thirds own their home, and nearly half are employed full-time, with bisexual and transgender adults disproportionately likely to be experiencing unemployment.
Many older Americans are concerned about debt and whether they’ll be financially able to afford retirement, and this is true for those in the LGBTQ+ community as well. For some, their financial situation feels daunting and worrisome: 2 in 10 older LGBTQ+ adults are very concerned about managing their debt, and the majority are very concerned about having enough income or savings to retire. In fact, only 4% of respondents are extremely confident they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement years. More than a quarter of LGBTQ+ adults expect Social Security to be their only source of income when they retire.
While almost all older LGBTQ+ adults feel financial security is very important to their quality of life, just over a third (36%) consider their financial health – meaning their ability to spend, save, borrow and plan – to be excellent or very good. Nearly two-thirds own their home, and nearly half are employed full-time, with bisexual and transgender adults disproportionately likely to be experiencing unemployment.
Although many people want to stay in their homes as they age, over half of LGBTQ+ adults fear that it might not be financially possible for them. As one participant, a lesbian grandmother in her 80s, shared: “About a year and a half after I retired, my life partner died…We shared all of our expenses, so when she died, I didn’t have that income anymore. So I’m really living off my Social Security. Everything’s going up. I struggle every single day.”