Pride in Care
Opening Doors: helping LGBTQ+ people negotiate ageing and care
Laura Benin and Martha Margetson of Opening Doors, a charity providing support for LGBTQ+ people over 50, explore the issues relevant to older LGBTQ+ people as they move into the care environment, and explain the invaluable benefits offered by their Pride in Care quality standard
We are Opening Doors, the largest UK charity providing activities, events, information, and support services specifically for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, non-binary, or gender fluid (LGBTQ+) people over 50. We are a membership organisation providing regular social opportunities and events to help develop networks, communities, and create friendships. Being LGBTQ+ and growing up in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s was profoundly challenging. You could lose your home, your job, and be prosecuted just for being yourself. People lived in fear of being found out by their friends, family, and colleagues. When homosexuality was partially legalised in 1967, it still only referred to private acts between two men who were over the age of 21. Enormous prejudice still existed in British society and homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder by the World Health Organisation. In 1970, the Gay Liberation Front was founded and challenged gay people to understand how and why they were repressed. Despite only lasting 3 years, the organisation inspired many gay rights organisations over the next 20 years.
The early 1980s were a dark time for the
LGBTQ+ community. When the AIDS/HIV epidemic arrived in the UK, the LGBTQ+ community was just beginning to find its voice, with many people still having to hide their identities from their families and employers. A hostile, homophobic press referred to AIDS/HIV as the ‘gay plague’ and informed people it could be transmitted through the air. People in hospital were refused human contact as nurses were scared to get near patients. Many people in the LGBTQ+ community lost partners and loved ones. This was the environment that many of our members lived in. They have
June 2022
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
experienced a lot of change in society but, for some of our older members, the shame and internalised homophobia from those days still play a role in their lives. Our aim is to offer a safe space where our members can connect with each other, make new friends, feel less lonely, and feel a part of the LGBTQ+ community once again. Many of the people we support feel they need to ‘get back in the closet’ when they are older or when their partner passes away. Opening Doors is sometimes the only connection they have with their community. We offer specific groups where LGBTQ+ people can meet regularly to chat about the issues they face and do activities together. Currently, we have more than twenty groups, online and in-person,
Many older LGBTQ+ people have experienced abuse and homophobia within the care sector
including Trans/Non-Binary, BAME/POC (black, Asian and minority ethnic/people of colour), Bi The Way, and dementia services. We also offer opportunities for our members to go to events such as film screenings, museum visits, park walks, and pub socials. We send a monthly update with everything that is happening and how they can participate. Our membership is completely free and anyone over 50 living in the UK who identifies as LGBTQ+ can join.
Working to prevent social isolation No older LGBTQ+ person should feel as though they are no longer a part of their community because they have lost their life partner, are housebound, or simply lack the confidence to go out and make new friends. To make sure that no one is left behind, we offer Befriending and Telefriending services, where members are matched with like-minded volunteers with whom they connect once a week, talk about things they have in common, and share stories. For those who live in London, they
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