Being gay is synonymous with being a fanatical follower of the Cult of Youth

A Facebook friend posts in his group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/632974580194337/permalink/780665425425251/?comment_id=788496897975437&reply_comment_id=788675441290916&notif_t=group_comment&notif_id=1489521646499529:

Two of my gay male friends are turning 40 this week and they are really depressed about it.

I think it is really hard for us gay men to embrace getting older.
 
For straight people, getting older is usually interwoven with having children and then grandchildren, which brings with it a great deal of joy and fulfillment, but for gay people like myself, the future can often seem empty, lonely and bleak.
 
Discuss.

My response:

Your concerns bring to the fore very starkly the shallowness of a gay and transgender life. It's all about looks. Once you lose them you might as well kill yourselves. This is probably why so many transgender and gay people do start killing themselves in their 40s.

Age is not respected in the LGBT community.

The greatest tragedy is to grow old without growing wise. 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkeman-column/2015/may/12/the-cult-of-youth-cheats-young-and-old-alike-lets-reclaim-adulthood

an infantilized population mesmerized by “a wealth of small decisions” – what brand of washing-machine to buy? – is much easier for governments and corporations to control. “The picture of growing up as inevitable decline is supported by a web of interests that operate against our coming of age,” Neiman writes. “The tragedy is the way that we constantly collude in it.” Refusing to grow up may be a form of rebellion. But really growing up could be a revolution.