T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h G r a d u a t e S c h o o l STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Elizabeth Marie Abrams has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: ABSTRACT The remarkable increase in the last 15 years of published literature on LGBT people has typically used mixed samples of gay men and lesbians, even though differences in historical, political, and social contexts lead each reference group to have unique lived experiences and

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... Kehoe (1988) stated that old lesbians are "triply invisible" due to the intersections of at least three marginalized statuses -old, female, and lesbian. With rich legacies of activism, old lesbian communities can draw on their radical roots to continue improving the lives of old lesbians in the future. Participatory action research (PAR) includes research participants as coresearchers and relies on the wisdom and knowledge of the members of a marginalized community to follow the best course of action for social change in their community. This study documented the process by which old lesbians in the Living Our Visions PAR group in Salt Lake City, Utah, created community and engaged in social change. The research goals were: (a) to serve as a catalyst for old lesbians to meet, organize, and identify goals for their community that would enhance wellbeing and to embark on action to achieve stated goals; (b) to document the activities of the group by actively engaging in the plan-act-observe-reflect cycle of PAR; and (c) to serve as a model for community building and action for other old lesbian communities. iv Data analysis resulted in six categories of old lesbian community building: (a) Consciousness-raising; (b) Celebrating our roots; (c) Creating a vision; (d) Taking action; (e) Belonging; and (f) Envisioning the future. Within each of the six processes, coresearchers of the Living Our Visions project grappled with conceptions of creating a beloved community based on the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and bell hooks. Similarly, the project took a relational approach to building community and engaged in feminist ethics of care. By documenting both engagement and struggles with creating beloved community and feminist ethics of care, this study expanded the dialogue on working through conflicts, challenges, joys, and successes in PAR projects and in old lesbian communities.