LGBTI+ pride comes in all ages

Being connected with community is good for our health and wellbeing. It can give us a sense of pride and safety. When we don’t feel like we belong, it’s easy to become socially isolated and stop participating in activities we enjoy. Whether we live in outer suburban, regional and rural places, we all want to be supported to get the supports we need.

Many older people face barriers to ‘belonging’. For lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans/gender diverse and intersex (LGBTI+)* people, these barriers may seem particularly difficult. Ageism, stigma or discrimination, lack of services and supports that really understand our needs – there are many reasons why people don’t feel they belong. We might feel unwelcome in the community where we live. Maybe we are disconnected from communities of faith or birth. We may feel we don’t belong in some LGBTI+ spaces.

Older LGBTI+ people want the chance to design and help build our own solutions. We want to dream big and make our voices heard. We have a wealth of ideas and experiences to share. We have amazing skills, we know incredible and surprising things, and we can be fearless agents of change given the chance.

Pride in Ageing is a program of Switchboard Victoria.

Our goal is to:

• reduce social isolation for older LGBTI+ people

• tackle ageism

• build long-term improvement and change for older LGBTI+ people.

Working with partners, community members and local organisations, Pride in Ageing will centre the experience and needs of older LGBTI+ people to design and help build our own solutions. We want to pilot meaningful place-based solutions that are peer-designed, culturally safe and locally relevant.

This pilot is funded by the Victorian Government. It sits within the broader Pride in Ageing Program at Switchboard, alongside the Out and About Aged Care Volunteer Visiting Scheme service, specialist case support for older LGBTI+ people, and ongoing policy and advocacy work.

*At Switchboard when working with older people we use the acronym LGBTI+ in response to feedback that some older LGBTIQA+ people find the term “queer” offensive due to it’s historical use as an abusive and insulting term. Our use of this acronym encompasses all LGBTIQA+ identities and no-one is out of scope.