Claire Black: ‘People feel invisible when their right to exist isn’t acknowledged’

WHAT do you find out when you take the time to talk to a group of older LGBT people?

How about this:

• more than a third of them still worry about being rejected by friends if they come out

• only just over half (54 per cent) feel part of the community yet less than that (50 per cent) feel part of the LGBT community

• nearly half are single, and of those with a partner, only a fifth feel safe when they hold their hand or show physical affection in public.

It’s sobering, don’t you think? The kind of detail that often gets lost in heated discussions about whether gay people should be able to get married. (Of course they should). Or whether the use of “gay” as an insult is homophobic. (Of course it is.) These statistics are just a few of the findings from Visible Lives, a major new report on older LGBT people living in Ireland. If the same study had been done in Scotland, I’d guess the results would be depressingly similar.

In a period of longer life expectancy and supposed tolerance, we can and should be proud of truly progressive legislation such as the Equality Act 2010, but we have to face facts too. There are no specialist resources – daycare centres or residential care services – for older LGBT people in Scotland.

“Why should they have special care?” “What’s so special about them?”

You’ve got a point, social invisibility is a problem for many older people, but when you combine fear about homophobia and often negative past experiences of discrimination (let’s not forget, it was only in 1980 that male homosexuality was decriminalised in Scotland) then what you get is a truly toxic cocktail which prevents older LGBT people from accessing support and services they need.

In the Irish study, half of the respondents had been verbally abused because of their sexuality. A quarter had been threatened with physical violence. In this country, older LGBT people are more likely to be single, more likely to live alone and less likely to have family support than their heterosexual peers.

There are people doing things to improve this situation. The LGBT Wellbeing Centre in Edinburgh runs a project designed specifically to support older people. In Inverness, a group called the Highland Rainbow Folk, raises awareness of LGBT issues amongst providers of services for older people – health professionals and care staff included.

“So what can I do?” “Why is she going on about this to me?”

Only for this reason: everyone can make a difference by thinking about their own behaviour. If you hear someone being homophobic, challenge them. If you don’t know any gay people and you worry that civilisation might crumble if they get equal rights, inform yourself. The Equality Network and Stonewall Scotland are great places to start. And most of all, do the thing that really should be easiest of all – don’t assume everyone is straight, no matter what age they are. People feel invisible when their right to exist isn’t acknowledged. We can all do something about that.