Giving Compass' Take:

• YES! Magazine explores how LGBTQ+ people are coming out earlier in life, but that there is still a sizable amount of the population that finds their identity as older adults. Author Katie Heaney describes such an experience.

• This article is a good reminder to take an age agnostic approach when it comes to LGBTQ+-focused philanthropy and should spark a healthy discussion about gay representation across many generations.

• This ad campaign reveals that we still have a long way to go when it comes to eliminating LGBTQ+ discrimination.

Discovering a queer identity in one’s late 20s is pretty rare these days. LGBTQ+ folks are coming out earlier with each generation. One study conducted by Tel Aviv University researchers found that in 2010, the average gay, lesbian, or bisexual person came out at age 16, down from 25 in 1991.

The decline is encouraging. It demonstrates an increasing acceptance of LGBTQ+ people. But it also creates a curious scenario for people like Katie Heaney, author of Would You Rather: A Memoir of Growing Up and Coming Out. After years of trying to figure out why she couldn’t find a boyfriend, which she humorously explores in her debut book, Never Have I Ever, Heaney now describes what it was like coming out as gay at age 28. And in doing so she poses a question that many queer individuals often find themselves asking: What took so long?

Increased social acceptance and media representation has made coming out a safer prospect than in the past. Movies like Love, Simon are finding mainstream success in theaters. LGBTQ+ people fill prominent roles across all industries — from TV personality Caitlyn Jenner to activist DeRay McKesson and Apple CEO Tim Cook — showing that being gay needn’t be a barrier to success. A Stonewall poll found that individuals now 60 or older were 37 years old when they first came out, while those 24 and under were just 17.

Still, coming out at any age presents a series of life-altering challenges. Large areas of the U.S. remain sharply opposed to LGBTQ+ rights, and GLAAD’s 2018 annual Accelerating Acceptance report found that after decades of progress, public support for LGBTQ+ people actually declined for the first time last year.

Read the full article about coming out when you're well into adulthood by Christopher Zumski Finke at YES! Magazine.