Links the development of lesbian and gay elders' identity with the moments in the 20th century reinvention of homosexuality. This book summarizes the meaning of homosexuality that prevailed when her subjects came of age and the changes it underwent during their middle years.

Such decisions on identities, Rosenfeld argues, strongly shaped her subjects in later life, specifically their understanding of the nature of homosexuals and their implications for relations with other people, straight and gay alike, as well as for standards of "homosexual competence" they use to assess their own and others' enactment of homosexuality. An important book that challenges research on identity and identity formation, "The Changing of the Guard" rethinks how we have come to understand the meaning of homosexuality. Dana Rosenfeld is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Colorado College.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Distinctiveness of Lesbian and Gay Elders
1. "I Didn't Have Identity": Same-Sex Desire and the Search for Meaning
2. "I Picked Up That I Was Gay"
3. Biography and History: From Identity Careers to Identity Cohorts
4. "Dangerous Territory": The Heterosexual World
5. Homosexual Competence and Relations with Heterosexuals
6. Contingencies and Challenges
Conclusion: Challenges and Opportunities
Appendix: Informant Profiles
Notes
Bibliography
Index