Gay Aging in Israel: An Activist Autoethnographic Perspective

This article aims to review and reflect on the diverse life patterns and social needs of aging gay men in Israeli culture from an interpretive socio-historical perspective. Using the life course perspective as a leading theoretical framework, a few significant implications of the late emancipation of the Israeli LGBT community on contemporary gay male aging are raised. Appropriately, the current knowledge about gay aging in Israel is first reviewed from an activist autoethnographic viewpoint, including in relation to evidence unfolding from two documentaries about aging gay men, and the author’s gay activist life course. Community group activism that concurrently drove this autoethnographic inquiry brought the author together with recurring and ongoing themes in the present lives of older gay men. These themes reflect on the tension between concealment and disclosure of sexual identity in older age, the rift between conflicting social gay identities, and the need for community-based social support. This study is discussed as a basis for future research and community practice.