We Are All Becoming Senior Citizens,

It might be in a few years or ten years or in many decades, but one day you will be a senior citizen if you are lucky. There isn’t much research on elder care trans-people; in an article in the Al Jazeera America,

For aging transgender population, retirement can be bittersweet refuge
By Ryan Schuessler
February 20, 2014

While it could mean the end of pretending, the golden years can also come with health care issues, intense isolation

As more and more transgender individuals get older, the unique challenges they face are becoming apparent. Shortfalls in health care could mean the difference between life and death for some. Discrimination in retirement communities or assisted-living facilities could tarnish the golden years, and a later-in-life transition could leave some ostracized from the families they’ve loved their whole lives.

For a transgender baby boomer such as Alice, retirement could offer a relief from the workplace discrimination and the double life many have begrudgingly become used to in order to put food on the table. Alice will finally be able to be Alice all the time. It’s the beginning of a new chapter, but a happy ending is still uncertain.

“What it comes down to in terms of older trans people, our biggest problem is finding health care,” she said. “That’s one of the crosses we have to bear.”

She’s had a host of health issues over the past year, but knows of only two physicians in her area who see patients for trans-specific health concerns and offer an open and accepting practice. In the past, she and other people she knows have been turned away from clinics or met with hostility from doctors who refused service based on religious views or other grounds.

I transitioned the day that I retired and retirement has been great. I have had a number of health problems since I retired and I haven’t had any problems with healthcare, but then I am living in a very blue state.

When I transitioned my aunt was in a nursing home so I had to tell the director of the home, she told the staff and I didn’t have any problems at the nursing home. A few years ago I have a major health crisis and I had to have all sorts of test and I never had a problem.

But many trans-people worry about the future,

At 72, LaTrobe is still able to live on her own on a fixed income. Long-term care and assisted living aren’t things she’s thought about yet. But for those people who are entering a retirement community, the move can be a regressive step.

Even though today’s world is more accepting of transgender individuals, largely driven by younger generations, it doesn’t mean the older generation is any more accepting, said Joe Ippolito, a Minnesota-based psychologist and transgender activist. That can spell trouble for transgender men and women as they age and enter end-of-life care.

“I’m starting to hear about this issue when (transgender people) are going back to the gender they were born in for the fear of being outed in these facilities or not (being given) appropriate care in nursing homes or assisted living facilities,” he said.

I have taken the first steps; I have started to attend the town senior center, ever Friday the photo club meets and there I am just "Diana." I don't doubt that they see me as trans, but I don't go around waving the trans-flag. I go there to photography club and they don't care that I'm trans or not, we just want to look and talk photography.

Right now I live in my own home but I know some day that will not be the case, I might need home care at some time or maybe I will have to go to an assisted care facility and I wonder if they will be open and affirming.

Lambda Legal, LGBT Aging Center, and SAGE have information on elder care for trans-people