Long-Lived Lesbians

Gillian Kendall
Gillian Kendall

We’re LBGold (lesbian, bisexual, gay, and old) and prouder than ever.

Welcome to the launch of Long-Lived Lesbians at Curvemag.com. We’re LBGold (lesbian, bisexual, gay, and old) and prouder than ever.

At 53, I’ve been reading Curve since its inception (before some current readers were born!). I still get a lot out of every issue.

But I’ve noticed something odd: most of the women featured in Curve seem to keep getting younger. With each passing year, they get thinner, hipper, and somehow less like me and my friends. I don’t always know their music or the cultural references that they toss around in interviews. I don’t have a tattoo: I don’t want a tattoo. The fashions they’re wearing wouldn’t always look so hot on me, either. I am, as Ferron sings when she performs her song “Harmless Love,” live, “A little older, maybe a little wider.”

 

So when editor and publisher Silke Bader put out a call to Curve’s regular writers for someone to cover “older lesbians,” I hit “reply” so fast I knocked iced decaf all over my keyboard. Here, we older lesbians and friends have a forum for discussions, a stage for celebrities, a marketplace of ideas and a library of resources. In coming months I’ll be interviewing experts on matters related to the arts, politics, housing, health, sex, finance, food, and more – all from the angle of older lesbian interests.

But first, being lesbians, we have a few things to process. First, terminology: how do you feel about the word “older” as opposed to “old” or “elderly” or “senior”? Personally, I like what OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change) says on its website: “Old” has become a term of insult and shame. To be “Old” means to be ignored and scorned, to be made invisible and expendable. … We name ourselves “Old Lesbians” because we will no longer accommodate ourselves to language that implies in any way that “Old” means inferior.” But your mileage may vary. What term, if any, do you use as shorthand for gay women over 55? And is 55 the right marker? Why not 50, or 65? Do you measure age subjectively or objectively?

So send suggestions! What would you like to see here: your role models, your questions, your hobbies, your girlfriends? If this were a dinner party, what dishes would you hope to see on the table, and what would you bring? Regardless of your age, what are your thoughts on ageing?

Send suggestions for long-lived lesbians’ situations and struggles, celesbians and celebrations to: [email protected]

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