YORK LGBT FORUM
OLDER PERSONS
OLDER PEOPLE
The Older Persons group aims to raise awareness of older LGBT issues. We created Free to be Me for care homes and in the workplace and have been successfully providing this LGBT awareness training in Yorkshire and the Midlands since January 2016. Bookings invited: ring Sue on 01904 488870.
We also work with AWOC York (Ageing Without Children), a local branch of the national AWOC group CLICK HERE to explore the issues. It is estimated that a large majority of LGBT people will be ageing without the support of any nearby children or family.
You may also be interested in our one hour awareness training, Opening the Closet Door on Dementia, where you will meet an 80 year old lesbian who lives in fear of ‘coming out’ and hear the story of an older gay man and his partner who lived and died with dementia. An excellent springboard for discussion.
If you’d like to chat, please contact us via email olderpeople@yorklgbtforum.org or ring Sue on 01904 488 870.
OUR AIM
How to live and love with dignity and respect until we die, free of prejudice and stigma, as equal partners, equal participants and equal contributors to all groups and cultures in our society.
Please join us to make a better life for all of us, now and in the future.
Change rests in our hands.
OLDER PERSONS MEETINGS
FREE TO BE ME ONLINE TRAINING
Making the video of Free to be Me in Care available in themed segments via
the Forum website and YouTube, free for all to use as part of their ongoing
LGBT awareness training
FREE TO BE ME IN THE WORKPLACE TRAINING
Bringing Free to be Me in the Workplace to businesses around the city. So far we have presented the one hour training to Brown’s, David Lloyd, Nestlé and Primark.
BEFRIENDING
Befriending eg adopt a grandparent, visiting LGBT folk in hospital, weekly
phone calls
AGEING WITHOUT CHILDREN
Campaigning on the issue of ageing without children – most of the LGBT
community is facing old age without the support of the younger generation.
FREE TO BE ME
The Older LGBT PERSONS group aims to raise awareness of older LGBT issues. We created Free to be Me for care homes and in the workplace and have been successfully providing this LGBT awareness training in North and West Yorkshire since January 2016. Bookings invited: ring Sue on 01904 488870 or click below to find out more details about our work.
We also work with the Real People Theatre Company.
SUE LISTER – MBE
OLDER LGBT PERSONS REPRESENTATIVE
As a drama facilitator, actor and director, Sue was awarded an MBE in 2017 for “equality, diversity and the arts in Yorkshire.” In the 80s/90s she was the Artistic Director of Theatre Terrific in Vancouver – disabled people of all ages making their voices heard across British Columbia.
Returning to the UK in 1996, Sue and her partner, Ann, founded the Real People Theatre, a women’s company ( www.realpeopletheatre.co.uk ) and created 20 shows for York International Women’s Week which she coordinated for 9 years. Sue has been on the York Older People’s Assembly executive since 2002 and founded the York 50+ Festival which she coordinated for 12 years. As a committee member of the York LGBT Forum since its inception in 2006, Sue created Free to be Me in Care/in the Workplace with members of the Older LGBT Group. With Ann, Sue started and has coordinated the AWOC York group (ageing without children) since January 2016 recognising that the majority of LGBT people will be ‘awocs’ – national overview at www.awwoc.org . Focusing on the theme of loneliness and isolation, extracts from the Real People Theatre production No Kidding? continue to offer a springboard for discussion of this vital issue.
WE HAVE STARTED TO ACT
By gathering research and establishing links with organisations such as Age UK York, Older Citizens Advocacy York (OCAY), Stonewall, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, OLGA (Older Lesbian Gay Bi and Trans Association), Equity Partnership in Bradford, the York Human Rights City Project, York Dementia Action Alliance and Dementia Forward
By developing our skills with a view to working in depth with care providers, staff and volunteers and helping to raise awareness of older LGBT issues.