Aging Equality: New Research on LGBTQ+ Aging

The Myth of Linear Aging

The process of aging is often seen as linear — each calendar cycle, we earn another notch under our belt in the form of years, gradually moving toward old-age, the illnesses that accompany it and our inevitable mortality. But mankind perseveres in the endless search for an antidote against our fatal flaw. And in doing so, emerging research suggests that aging follows nonlinear trajectories — and actually, unique ones. It seems that individuals of the LGBTQ+ community experience unique stressors that may accelerate or disrupt traditional aging patterns. In other words, the old homage about “having to grow up fast,” is biologically supported. 

Aging Accelerators

Stanford researchers sought an understanding of physical aging at a molecular level, discovering that different organs age at different speeds and those with healthier lifestyles can slow down major aging waves with the latter achieving the opposite effect. In another study, scientists focused on the sort of biological clock that determines a cell’s age, noting that our bodies may experience sudden “aging events” at key points in life. And thanks to the commonly-referenced 2013 trial, we know that our biological age can be far off from our numerical age — explaining why some people naturally develop “old-age” diseases at a young age. 

And apparently the idea of something “taking years off your life” has scientific backing, since recent findings discovered that chronic stress, discrimination and socioeconomic hardship can make certain organs age faster than normal — particularly in the heart, brain and immune system. So if you happen to have a twin that was separated at birth — yes, you’ll be the same chronological age — but based on your environment, you might be vastly different biological ages. 

Heterosexual Heterogeneity

Consequently, it’s unfortunately known that individuals with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities experience higher victimization across the lifespan compared to people with a heterosexual orientation — being far more likely to have experienced child abuse, sexual abuse and physical assault. And therefore, members of the LGBTQ+ community are at higher risk to develop mental conditions or even just be more stressed, shameful or fearful. And it starts young, as evident in a 2019 school climate survey showing that the vast majority of LGBTQ+ youth — 86% — reported being harassed and even assaulted at school. 

Obviously, these are all stressors — to say the least — with the ability to alter someone’s biological age.

In fact, a 2024 government-funded study found that people who experience early-life adversity, like 86% of youth in 2019, show signs of aging much earlier than those who don’t, developing age-related issues much younger than they should. Hence biological shields shrinking due to stress, trauma affecting sleep, eating-patterns, substance-use and chronic inflammation, the system controlling stress hormones being overworked and therefore damaging the immune system and organs — all speeding up the aging process.

It should be noted that an estimated 20-30% of the LGBTQ+ community experience addiction, while nearly 9% of the general population shares that struggle and LGBTQ+ individuals have a higher prevalence of sleep disorders than their straight counterpart — including teens, young adults and adults.

These findings are “quite interesting, but I would say preliminary,” Dr. Eric Verdin, president and chief executive at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, told the New York Times. Verdin raises his next questions: “What’s happening? Which organ or collection of organs is causing these big changes?” 

Resilience and the Possibility of Reversing Aging

The increasing evidence that trauma and adversity can accelerate biological aging have experts eager to answer these questions with sustained and extensive research, accounting for all kinds of variations in environments and lifestyles. 

So far, scientists have barely “touched the surface” of how molecular changes are impacted and how they relate to aging,” the scientific director of the National Institute on Aging, Dr. Luigi Ferrucci told the New York Times. “By learning more, they can help people live better longer and head off disease. Instead of declining at 70, we can try to make it decline at 75, and gain five years of good life.” 

And since we know that aging is not linear, nor is it universal, scientists could be a step closer to reversing and preventing aging — like that of Bryan Johnson of “Don’t Die,” who claims to have reversed his biological age by 5.1 years through his highly controlled diet, rigorous exercise regime and constant experimental anti-aging treatments.

Rethinking Aging for a More Inclusive Future

Yes, aging is deeply tied to trauma, stress and other environmental conditions — and yes, the LGBTQ+ community is disproportionately affected by such elements. But the good news? These studies have broken ground in understanding aging — allowing for the development of more inclusive healthcare models, social policies and aging interventions. 

Nonetheless, there are studies for the meantime as well — like the ones that show how older LGBTQ+ individuals have been able to “bounce back” from adverse situations and respond to hostile environments, consequently reducing the risk of vulnerability in later life, with families of choice, therapy and tight-knit communities.

“My health has never really been great… and now I have chronic fatigue syndrome and clinical depression,” a 65-year-old gay man in a Canadian later-life study said “I want to grow old with dignity.”