Being Old and Gay is Beautiful

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Travel

Being Old and Gay is Beautiful

All photos by Matthew Morrocco

Based on the news cycle, you'd think LGBT people all lived in a sparkly version of hell. It's true that in many ways, being queer can suck, but besides dealing with a whole lot of crap, LGBT people are living beautiful, diverse lives in a variety of cities across the world. Our photo column "Being Gay Is Beautiful in…" explores this idea, showcasing photos of a different city's LGBT community every week to display how being queer is fucking awesome.

Advertisement

This week, instead of focusing on a geographic location, we feature images of an underrepresented age group—the old and gay. A graduate of NYU and a current MFA candidate at Columbia University, Matthew Morocco meets his subjects on the subway, in supermarkets, on the street, and online. He follows them home into their spaces, with the intention of both enjoying their company and making portraits of them.

Compositionally based on history paintings, these pictures attempt to crystalize the unique essence of homosexual intimacy, examining the visual distance between sex and closeness. But mostly, they give back some beauty to an oft forgotten and disparaged demographic—aging homosexuals.

]

See more photos by Matthew Morocco on his website.