Mignon R. Moore, PhD, MA

Mignon R. Moore, PhD, an Associate Professor in the Departments of Sociology and African-American Studies at UCLA and Associate Professor of Sociology at Barnard College – Columbia University, received a Doctorate of Philosophy in Sociology from the University of Chicago, IL. Dr. Moore’s research interest addressed three (3) primary questions: 1) What are the major physical and mental health issues affecting African-American gay seniors as they age, and how can community institutions better service them?; 2) How do gay elderly and individuals approaching senior status negotiate their sexuality in the context of African-American communities that may be disapproving of homosexual behavior, and in the context of social mores that assume a waning interest in sexuality for older populations”; and 3) Given the importance of marital partners and children as sources of social support for heterosexual seniors, how do gay elders, who cannot legally form marital unions and who are less likely to have borne children, find and maintain social support systems as they age?


2008-09 & 2009-10 & 2010-2012


“Assessment of major factors influencing physical health, mental health and access to medical care for older African-American, sexual minorities as they age, and determine the ways community institutions can be of better service to them.” Dr. Moore’s 2008-09 and 2009-10 RCMAR/CHIME-funded projects and 2010-11 diversity-supplement project built on each other from a gathering of focus-group session data and in-depth interview data on Black lesbian and gay men in Los Angeles, CA, and New York City, NY, and explored the relationships between gay sexuality and other statuses based on race, class, health status and gender. The goals of these projects were to contribute to the literature on aging by assessing the physical and mental health outcomes that might be related to sexual identity, social support, community institutions, and regular sources of medical care for aging African-American lesbians and gay men, to address the research on social support by examining the familial relationships and social networks that exist for aging African-American lesbian and gay men, and to determine whether and how their sexuality influences the types of support systems they participate in and are able to create.


“In the shadow of sexuality: Older African-American sexual minorities and social support.”


“Physical health outcomes, social histories and social support among racial and sexual minority elders: A two-city study.”


  • Moore, Mignon R. Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships, and Motherhood among Black Women. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: U of California Press, 2011. Print.
  • Moore MR, Brainer A. Race and ethnicity in the lives of sexual minority parents and their children. Chapter in ”LGBT-Parent Families: Possibilities for New Research and Implications for Practice.” A Goldberg and K. Allen (eds). NY; Springer. 2013; 133-148.