A groundbreaking report has found gay men and women in Britain are far more likely to end up living alone and have less contact with family in later life than straight people. The Guardian says the report is the first of its kind, and has implications for GPs, health and social services at a time when Britain's population is ageing. It is estimated that there are a million lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Britain over the age of 55. A YouGov survey, commissioned by the campaign group Stonewall, found that older gay and bisexual men are three times more likely to be single than heterosexual men. Just over a quarter of gay and bisexual men and half of lesbian and bisexual women have children compared with almost nine in every 10 heterosexual men and women. They were also less likely to see biological family members regularly. Less than a quarter of LGB people see their biological family members at least once a week, compared with more than half of heterosexual people according to the survey of 1,050 heterosexual and 1,036 LGB people over the age of 55. "This pioneering research confirms what we already knew intuitively, that there are hundreds of thousands of lesbian and gay people growing older without the same family and support structures that many straight people enjoy," said Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall. "Quite often, that's because their own families have disowned them just because of the way they were born." Here are its key findings: -40% of gay and bisexual men over 55 are single, compared with 15% of heterosexual men. -41% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people over 55 live alone compared with 28% of heterosexual people. -8% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people over 55 see members of their family a few times a week compared with 21% of heterosexual people. - 15% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people over 70 work compared with 6% of heterosexual people. - 9% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people over 55 have taken drugs within the last year, compared with 2% of heterosexual people.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 12th September 2011 - 4:05pm