ABSTRACT
Over the past decade or so the lives of older people who identify as lesbian, gay and/or bisexual (LGB) have increasingly become the focus of research, emanating from academics, third-sector organisations and community-based projects. This population of older adults has also been identified in some forms of policy making and service provision as being in particular need of support. Moreover, writers have suggested that because current generations of older LGB people experienced a more draconian climate earlier in their lives, even if they did not necessarily identify as lesbian, gay and/or bisexual at the time, this legacy of stigma has endured (de Vries, 2014; Knauer, 2011). Cumulatively, therefore, older LGB people are identified as a distinct group of the ageing population with different life experiences and needs to their older heterosexual peers, which requires an institutional response.
