Ageing is not always easy. As if wrinkles and arthritis weren’t bad enough, you might have to hide your identity.

Earlier this month, two McGill University researchers released a study which shows gay and lesbian seniors face huge obstacles when seeking adequate health care.

From 2003 to this past January, 90 people were interviewed in Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax. Participants included 38 gay and lesbian seniors as well as 31 health-care providers and 21 caregivers like partners, children and friends.

The study concludes that discriminatory attitudes among health care providers are common.

This constitutes insult to injury.

The “injury” is that gay and lesbian seniors often struggled painfully with their sexual orientation. When they were growing up, homosexuality was still illegal and/or treated as a psychiatric disorder. Common “treatment” used to include lobotomies and shock therapy, if not jail.

The “insult” stems from the fact that given social evolution, these seniors should be able to relax in their last years. Attitudes they faced in the past should remain part of the past, not present reality.

In today’s Canada, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation. Same-sex couples can legally wed and common law partnerships are taxed just like marriages. Attitudes have changed. At least, they should have — especially in the health field.

Instead, Shari Brotman and Bill Ryan from the McGill University School of Social Work uncovered that gay and lesbian seniors feel they need to button up about who they are. In some cases, after “coming out,” they suffered consequences like poorer service or hostile attitudes.

Because people used to be forced into psychiatric institutions, Ryan told Canadian Press that “going to a doctor was a very fearful experience for many people.”

His co-author Brotman underlines this point, adding: “Their relationship throughout their early lives with the health-care system was one of extreme discrimination and hostility.”

Despite the relatively small sample size, experiences were quite similar. They ranged from frustrating to downright shocking.

One lesbian’s home-care provider brought a Bible and wanted to “save” her. Another lesbian was told she didn’t need an annual pap smear, given her homosexual orientation.

As for the men, some were assumed to have AIDS. Others had to sneak their way into care homes as brothers so that once inside, they could continue living as partners.

Many seniors interviewed said they had been mistreated after their sexual orientation was discovered.

Fortunately, most of the caregivers or health-care providers had a positive attitude although some said they didn’t have any gay or lesbian seniors in their charge — likely because of the invisibility of homosexuality.

As for the partners, children and friends who care for the seniors, the study revealed they were often marginalized, just like the seniors themselves.

The researchers suggest more training and greater awareness within the health care system and beyond are necessary.

It might help ensure that treatment of gay and lesbian seniors matches how younger homosexuals are treated in Canada.