Demand for Space: Elderly Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People, Healthcare, and Theological Ethics

Abstract

Visibility for transgender and gender nonconforming people and the elderly is growing; however, thus far the overlap of the two groups has rarely been considered. Trans persons therefore remain largely invisible in the context of older people’s care and medicine. The discrimination faced by this group is at least twofold: they are the targets of aggression incited by transphobia, and also by ageism. Although older trans and gender nonconforming people exist as a greatly marginalized group within another already marginalized group, even the field of theological ethics has neglected to grant them ethical attention. This leads to especially harsh consequences for elderly transgender and gender nonconforming people due to their specific vulnerabilities. There are reports from trans persons who have resolved never to make use of health services again due to regular experiences of transphobia in medical settings. There are religious components within transgender and gender nonconforming issues that should not be overlooked in this context. On the one hand, medical staff, in the name of their Christian beliefs, have refused to provide trans persons with basic medical care. On the other hand, demands for places of visibility, and spaces for the individual, are regularly made in trans-positive studies, and can be linked to discussions within theological ethics about giving space. Some ethical formulas within the Hebrew and Christian traditions focus on the creation of space in which other beings may exist, as found in concepts like brother–sisterhood, friendship, and Sabbath. By casting light on elderly trans and gender nonconforming people, and on their demands for space, via reflections on ethical concepts of space-making, this study develops a specific understanding of space for elderly trans persons. The paper aims to develop an understanding of trans-positive spaces within theological ethics and applied ethics. Spaces that assume a withdrawal or contraction by all those who have previously taken up trans spaces through ignorance, contempt, or violence, should not thereby become spaces of absence: indeed, elderly trans and gender nonconforming people might be in need of both kinds of spaces, those where otherness enables withdrawal, and those where the helping presence of others continues.

Caring for the Older Transgender Adults: Social, Nursing, and Medical Challenges

“…Elderly individuals frequently suffer from pain, functional restrictions (reduced strength and stamina, immobility, sensory damage, and incontinence), somatic deficiencies (susceptibility to falls, sexual impotence, complications due to chronic diseases, and polypharmacy), and impaired mental capacity and emotional health. Moreover, widowhood, loss of companions and friends, solitary living, retirement from work, and loss of income are common circumstances in later life (Wirth, 2021).…”

“…Firstly, they suffer from the fragilities and debilities of advanced age, and secondly, they undergo stigmatization and marginalization due to their untypical gender identity and expression. Unfortunately, the special health care needs of transgender older adults have been scantily addressed in health policy and clinical practice (Edmiston et al, 2016; Ettner, 2013; Wirth, 2021).…”