Queer Aging The Gayby Boomers and a New Frontier for Gerontology

As the first generation of gay men enters its autumn years, these men's responses to the physical and emotional tolls of aging promise to be as revolutionary as their advances in AIDS and civil rights activism. Older gay men's approaches to friendship, caregiving, romantic and sexual relationships, illness, and bereavement is upending conventional wisdom regarding the aging process, LGBTQ communities, and the entire field of gerontology. QUEER AGING comprises scholar Jesus Ramirez-Valles's probing conversations with 11 racially and economically diverse representatives of this pioneering generation of gay men-the gayby boomers. Through candid, first-person narratives, Ramirez-Valles's subjects reflect on their varied experiences as late career professionals, retirees, AIDS survivors, caregivers for ailing partners, and witnesses to profound social and cultural change. Framed within a larger introduction to both Queer Theory and its history, these reflections provide context for understanding the aging arc and experience of older gay men. Spanning sociology, history, cultural studies, and social work, QUEER AGING will be a vital resource for students as well as health professionals who serve the gay community and communities of color.

Jesus Ramirez-Valles is a scholar, filmmaker, and an advocate of GLBT and Latino health. He is author of the award-winning book, Compañeros: Latino Activists in the Face of AIDS and creator of the documentary, Tal Como Somos/Just As We Are. He was named one of the "Top Gay Latino Activists who Have Broken Boundaries" by the Huffington Post. For more than twenty years he has worked in public health in both the United States and Latin America. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Health Promotion Practice. He was born in Mexico, obtained his doctoral and masters degrees from the University of Michigan, and is Professor and Head of Community Health Sciences at the University of Illinois-Chicago's School of Public Health.