This talk is primarily based on Harold Kooden's book Golden Men: The Power of Gay Midlife, published in 2000 and 2022. The central theme is that the coming-out process has taught gay men many lessons that are useful throughout life, especially dealing with aging issues. There are many unique experiences of growing up in a homophobic culture which are unrecognized but greatly influence our maturation. He goes into detail on these experiences. Without realizing their benefits, many gay men do not see how prepared they are for the aging process. Many of these strengths, once realized, can be utilized for other life experiences. In this presentation, He demonstrates how the three main principles inherent in the coming-out process, finding and presenting our authentic self, social connectedness, and hope, give persons a foundation with which to deal with life crises. I will also share sequential exercises that enable persons, gay or not, how to continue on the path of self-exploration dealing with body, mind, and spirit in successful aging. Public response to his writing and presentations has shown that the exercises and principles of successful aging are applicable to all people. Much of the time will be about attendee’s questions and the ensuing discussion. The presentation will include a presentation  that Dr. Kooden developed for the US Environmental Protection Agency on skills learned from coming-out that can be used for other crises, including the COVID pandemic.

Presenter:

Harold Kooden, Ph.D. has been an openly gay, white clinical psychologist for over fifty-five years, now in private practice and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA).He was instrumental in the APA vote on eliminating homosexuality as a mental illness as the first openly gay psychologist to speak to this issue at the APA Council of Representatives. He was then APA Chair of the Task Force on the Study of Lesbian and Gay Psychologists; founder and board member of the APA division on LGBTQ Issues. He was a governor-appointed board member of the New York State Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute for Nonviolence; and founding member and participating community activist of SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders). As a longtime member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, he was the male North American representative. He is author of many articles on gay psychology and besides publishing Golden Men in 2017, he co-edited Different Paths Towards Becoming a Psychoanalyst and Psychotherapist (Routledge Press). In 2022, he self-published Golden Men with a new epilogue.