Learning from older role models can change young people’s lives for the better 一 but these intergenerational relationships are sometimes hard to come by within LGBTQ+ communities. Connections to elders can help younger folks develop an “intergenerational self,” an identity that includes a sense of belonging to a group with generations of history, and make it easier to imagine their own future, said Kate McLean, a Western Washington University psychology professor. “That’s a very powerful thing to feel, that there’s this group of people that [existed] 100 years ago [and] are part of who I am,” said McLean, who researches identity development, including within LGBTQ+ communities.
“That’s particularly important for people who are marginalized in some way 一 whose stories are not represented in the larger mainstream discourse or whose stories are distorted.” But between the absence of people who died during the AIDS crisis, a lack of all-ages gathering spaces and other factors, these sorely needed conversations across age groups are often missing, McLean said. In a study published in February , McLean and other researchers captured the wisdom that older LGBTQ+ adults (50 to 79 years) wanted to share with younger generations, as they wrote letters to a fictional youth.
The most common themes: celebrating oneself, navigating an oppressive society and finding community. Along a similar theme, we asked five prominent LGBTQ+ Seattleites working in food, sports a.