Transgender Aging Network

This is the website for the Transgender Aging Network, the only organization in the world devoted to transgender aging issues.

The Transgender Aging Network (TAN) exists to improve the lives of current and future trans/SOFFA (significant others, friends, family and allies) elders by:

• Identifying, promoting communication among, and enhancing the work of researchers, service providers, educators, advocates, elders and others who are interested in trans/SOFFA aging issues;

• Promoting awareness of concerns, issues, and realities of trans/SOFFA aging among service providers, researchers, advocates, health care professionals, the lesbian/gay/bisexual and trans communities, and other relevant audiences;

• Advocating for policy changes in public and private institutions, services, organizations, programs, etc. to provide better access for and respectful and appropriate treatment of trans/SOFFA elders; and

• Providing communication channels through which trans/SOFFA elders can give and receive support and information.

The site contains several publications. More recently published are:

Transgender Elder/SOFFA Roundtable

Seven transgender or SOFFA elders aged 54 to 71 discuss the joys and difficulties of being trans/SOFFA and aging, what scares and excites them, their families’ reactions, what research they wish was done on trans aging, and what service providers should know about them.
2008

Sexual Violence, Elder Abuse, and Sexuality of Transgender Adults Age 50+: Results of Three Surveys

This in-depth report covers more than 300 responses from transgender people age 50+ on three surveys conducted by FORGE and/or the Transgender Aging Network. Discussion includes many narrative responses on topics such as: experiences with service providers; perceptions of the role gender may have played in the criminal targeting of the trans person; barriers to services; how fear of crime has impacted respondents’ daily life and future plans; sexual practices; the impact of hormone use on libido; and dating disclosure practices. 2008

Transforming Mental Health Services for Older People: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Challenges and Opportunities

How would all elders and the aging network as a whole benefit if systems were designed to meet the needs of LGBT elders? That provocative and challenging thesis is at the base of this thought-provoking address to AARP’s 2007 Minority Issues Conference. The article also presents a new schema for thinking about cultural competency, and pioneers a new way of thinking about mental health. 2007