Queer People over 50 Living with HIV in Belgium during the so-Called "End of AIDS" Era

The first part of this paper presents the various challenges (in terms of recruitment, methodology and analysis) of a qualitative sociological survey of people over 50 living with HIV (PLHIV50+) in Belgium, independently of their gender identity and sexual orientation. The research focuses on a subject that, paradoxically, is both unthought of (insofar as no research exists on the subject in Belgium, unlike in other countries, particularly French-speaking countries such as France and Canada) and an increasingly significant reality (while PLHIV50+ represented only 19% of all patients in Belgium in 2006, they account for 49% in 2022).This poses a number of questions, firstly as far as the subjects themselves are concerned: in terms of health status (co-morbidities, long-term treatment side-effects, disability, etc.), quality of life (access to institutions, mental and sexual health, relationship with family, etc.) and the fight against inequality and discrimination.

The second part of the paper focuses on queer over 50 living with HIV (PLHIV50+) in a time of what I have coined as "seronormativity", i.e., a medical, social and institutional "normalisation" of the virus whereby however intersecting sexual, racial and gender stigmas still very much prevail. Based on observations and interviews with various informants (QPLHIV50+ as well as various stakeholders in the Belgian HIV sector), I will try and show that older age can be both a handicap and an advantage, as it intersects with other social characteristics, in this case non-heterosexual and non-cis identities, but also social class, race and religion.