I can only really talk about one perspective of ageism in the LGBTQ community. I’m 20 and I’ve been out for 2 years. I’m sure I’ll continue facing ageist issues in regards to my sexuality throughout my life.
I’ve actually faced two very different prejudices due to my age.
The first one is that because I’m the age that I am, people (usually people of my generation and/or Gen Xers) actually expect me to be queer. It’s not a spoken prejudice, but when I introduce myself to someone in that age range, especially when I’m with my boyfriend, they seem surprised when they think that I’m straight. If I get the chance to say “actually, I’m bisexual” or otherwise gently correct their assumption in the conversation, they’ll usually respond with a not-at-all-surprised “oh, okay.” Almost as if they were expecting me not to be straight because I’m a college-aged girl.
The second one is that I’m too young to determine my sexuality. This one seems to be really common when people come out in their early teens, but I came out when I was 18, so I never thought that this was something that I’d deal with. Unfortunately, I was sorely mistaken. I get the “well you’re a college student, so maybe you’re just experimenting” response a lot as well as the “well how do you know if thats actually what you’re feeling or if it’s just a phase” response. Because apparently the whole world thinks that you can’t determine your sexuality until you’re out of college and focused on other things like your career and marriage.
Due to my experiences and other people’s stories, I think that ageism is a huge problem in the LGBTQ community as a whole, not just the bi community. It seems like there’s this cultural idea that you can’t be a certain orientation (or anything other than straight) if you’re outside the age range of like 15-35. Any younger and you either don’t get taken seriously or get horribly bullied and any older and you’re either a special flower or a homewrecker.
I think that in order to get rid of this ageist prejudice, we need to consider and listen to stories from a bunch of different sources and age groups, not just millennials and Gen Xers. I understand that it’s easier for kids that are coming out now to relate to stories of people closer to their age, but it’s also important for them to read about what it’s like for bisexuals later in life. This is so important because that way they can understand what they need to change (or at least be prepared for) when their generation hits that age and also what their kids will face if they have queer kids at some point in the future.