LGBTQ+ Seniors Seeking Care Force into the Closet: “It pains them.”

Despite Sweden’s reputation for inclusivity, LGBTQ+ seniors fear they might be forced ‘back into the closet.’

By Giulia Penta, Lynn van den Brink and Camilla Wasén 

“Can I be who I am?” That’s the question haunting LGBTQ+ seniors around Sweden as they face entering the elder care system. For Angelica Löwdin, a transgender activist, these fears are tangible in her community. “LGBTQ people who live in nursing homes or have to do with home care, that’s what they are afraid of, whether they can be themselves,” she explains.

Löwdin describes the painful decisions members of her community have to make: “Many who work in home care, they do it temporarily and have no preparation at all. That’s why there are many trans people who say ‘No, I will go into the closet, remove everything, no one will notice anything.’ And it pains them.”

When Löwdin visited a healthcare centre in Gothenburg, she had a disappointing experience. Despite the centre’s LGBTQ+ certification stickers, someone addressed her by her given name, defying her explicit request for them not to. She contacted the centre’s director and said, “If it’s going to be like that, you can remove that sticker so no one has any expectations.”

A bandaid solution  

The certification stickers are part of a nationwide effort by RFSL, an LGBTQ+ rights organization. These certification programs aim to promote inclusivity, but Löwdin believes their impact doesn’t last: “The staff turnover in elderly care is so high that the layer of those who are trained becomes thinner and thinner.”

“If it’s going to be like that, you can remove that sticker so no one has any expectations”

— Angelica Löwdin

Perhaps most importantly: they are optional. Löwdin has been active in promoting mandatory LGBTQ+ education for years. “As it is now, it depends on engaged teachers being in the right place and it shouldn’t be down to them, it should be the norm.”

Gill Wiberg, care teacher at Studium in Gothenburg, is one of these passionate educators: “It’s all our own initiative,” she explains. Without budgetary support from the municipality, delivering RFSL classes becomes unattainable. “Their prices are awfully high, about 6,000 SEK, so we can’t afford it,” says Wiberg.

Higher education also struggles to incorporate LGBTQ+ topics. Former nurse Mats Christiansen, now a lecturer at Uppsala University, confirms: “I’ve contributed to a textbook about elderly LGBT issues, but whether that trickles down to the curriculum is less certain.”

Treated differently at their most vulnerable

For LGBTQ+ seniors seeking medical help, hospitals are no guaranteed safe spaces. Ex-nurse Marion Englablom, who worked at a palliative ward, emphasizes that this lack of education can have serious consequences. “It’s a saying in nursing that we treat everyone the same. But I know that’s not true.”

On one occasion, fellow nurses refused to insert a catheter for a patient with HIV, “I had to do it, even though the patient wasn’t mine.” She also describes how staff treated gay men differently, with room visits shorter than those to other patients, and spoke with them less. “The interactions differ, and that’s very sad.”

Nursing homes dividing the community

One proposed solution to the challenges LGBTQ+ seniors face in Gothenburg is separate nursing homes. The idea has sparked debate within the city council and the community. Advocates argue these spaces can act as a sanctuary, while sceptics view separation as a backward step.

At a meeting for LGBTQ+ seniors in Gothenburg, one man shared his thoughts on the city’s plans for an LGBTQ+ nursing home. “There’s something strange about it,” he said. “That you couldn’t live with just anyone.” He paused before adding, “I don’t think I’d want to live in a place like that.”

“We just felt that LGBTQ+ seniors are out there somewhere.”

–  Johan Lignell

Hanveden, Sweden’s first and so far only LGBTQ+ nursing home, has been sitting empty since it opened in 2021. “We didn’t do any analysis,” admits Johan Lignell from Norlandia, the company behind the facility. “We just felt that LGBTQ+ seniors are out there somewhere.” Their decision failed to consider the different factors playing into choosing a nursing homes. “We were certain it would work,” Lignell recalls.

Gothenburg City is following their example and the ruling coalition has allocated 5 million SEK in their 2025 budget proposal for separate housing. The initiative accounts for almost 5% of the elderly care budget, making it the third most costly investment.

When asked if they have surveyed seniors to gauge their interest, Marina Johansson, the Chair of the Gothenburg City Elderly Care and Social Services Committee, said, “I do not have a concrete number of this.”

Still on the barricades

While separate nursing homes and certificates may offer some comfort, the systemic issues in Gothenburg risk forcing seniors to keep fighting for their rights into old age. Löwdin fears this isn’t an option for all community members: “I’ll stand up for myself as long as I have the energy… But it depends on how you are as a person. Not everyone wants to stand on the barricades or is able to.”