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SBS Television Channel has a programme called Insight once a week - a panel discussion with a studio audience, and invited guests. The show is hosted by Jenny Brockie who seems to be very selective with the people she invites to give their points of view, and who is ready to cut people off as soon as they sta rt to put views of which she doesn't approve.
On the night of 20 September 2005 the Insight programme was called WHEN I GET OLDER and the invited audience included some very well-known people who were given more than their fair share of time to talk about particular issues.
Some of the issues involved in the discussions were retirement homes and Alzheimer's Disease. Euthanasia was given short shrift , because one of the panel was horrified by the idea, and quickly changed the topic.The programme briefly looked at types of abuse which could occur in nursing homes with some horror stories to illustrate the issues, contrasting with some of the 'happy ending' stories, although there was a mix of good and bad.
On Sunday 6 November 2005 the ABC's Radio National Background Briefing programme was called 'Financial Abuse of the Elderly' and showed that the USA has strict laws and that there are calls for national safeguards in Australia too.
The programme had some alarming stories about financial abuses which have taken place and are taking place at the moment, and there are organizations and legal people who are trying to control a situation that is getting out of hand and increasing.
Nowhere in either of these programmes were the dreaded words gay, lesbian, transgender, HIV/AIDS mentioned. It was as if older gays and lesbians do not exist, are invisible and certainly not in the minds of those who compile programmes such as the above, based on the heteronormative view of our society in 2005.
There have been some very well documented cases in Australia of elder abuse of gays and lesbians in hospital and aged care situations which have illustrated the homophobic nature of our society. (See Dr Jo Harrison' s research into gay and lesbian gerontology in Australia and the United States).
To its credit, and with its ever-dwindling resources, the News South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board's Gay and Lesbian Consultation put ageing on its agenda and has had discussions and forums on the topic. It is yet to be seen wh ether there will be any positive outcomes from their discussions.
Other forums held have been in Newcastle by Rainbow Visions - in 2004, in Melbourne at the Health in Difference conference in 2005 and an earlier conference in Sydney in 2003.
Another organization looking at the issues is the ALSO Foundation in Melbourne which, in 2004, issued a booklet on the topic after some research, and subsequently endeavoured to establish a committee to continue that work.
LaTrobe University's Australian Research Cent re in Sex, Health and Society has involved itself in the issues with Dr Anne Mitchell making a submission from their group Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria (GLHV) in response to the consultation paper from the Office of Senior Victorians after a seminar hos ted by GLHV on 26 September 2005 on their Elder Abuse Prevention Project Inquiry.
Research into the topic has been undertaken by Peter Robinson at RMIT and others at universities in New South Wales are also doing work on glth ageing.
However, despite all of these events, COTA National Seniors have yet to make this a policy issue, local governments such as Darebin, who have been made aware of gay and lesbian ageing issues in their council areas have ignored the topic, and the national seniors papers, with one notable exception, have not acknowledged the existence of such people - they remain non-people in our society. The one exception is Fifty~Plus, which has shown, ever since we first contacted them, that they were prepared to have the issues raised in their paper. The other paper, Victorian Senior, has ignored us altogether.
This has been aided and abetted by the federal government and its loyal opposition, who are more and more being influenced by the religious right homophobes in the country. This w as best illustrated by the hasty passing of the federal government' s marriage act amendments in 2004 (because of the push for equality by lesbian and gay orgaisations demanding marriage law equality for legal reasons) which the loyal opposition, the Altern ative Liberal Party (ALP) hurried to support! Christian values of traditional marriage had to be upheld, despite the divorce statistics in Australia, which show that almost one in two marriages end in separation and/or divorce.
We (that is Lesbian and Gay Solidarity and our group working towards recognition of sexual minorities in local government areas, Inter~Section) have made submissions on gay and lesbian ageing issues to Darebin Council, Office of Senior Victorians, New South Wales State Superannuat i on Board, and have presented papers at the Health in Difference 5 Conference in Melbourne in January 2005, Rainbow Visions forum in Newcastle in July 2004, addressed a COTA meeting to raise our concerns in 2002, written or made representations to various bodies during the last 5 years, and find that when new organizations are formed to address these same issues, or when consultations are held by bodies such as the AIDS Council of New South Wales, many of those involved are not asked to participate.
Finally, it seems that we must contact organizations such as the ABC and SBS and demand that the issues of ageing in communities need to include gay, lesbian, transgender and HIV/AIDS people in their discussions and deliberations.
We have an ageing population, much abuse of the elderly takes place in institutions and in private homes and by organizations working with the ageing because of inherent homophobia in the system, and education needs to be a priority.
We demand a voice and we demand it NOW!
Inter~Section Part 1 - Introduction to Inter~Section
Inter~Section Part 2 - Information and Details
Inter~Section Part 3 - Gay, Lesbian, Transgender Ageing Issues
Inter~Section Part 3b - STUFF AGEISM! IT'S TIME TO GET ACTIVE
Inter~Section Part 3c - YOU DON'T HAVE TO ROLL UP YOUR BANNER WHEN YOU'RE SIXTY
Inter~Section Part 3d - ELDER ABUSE SUBMISSION
Inter~Section Part 3e - NOT ONLY AGEING, BUT GAY, LESBIAN, TRANSGENDER, PEOPLE WITH HIV/AIDS
Inter~Section Part 4 - Darebin Council and Sexual Minority Issues
Inter~Section Part 5 - Links to documents and sites relating to Gay, Lesbian, Transgender Ageing and other Sexual Minority and Local Government Issues Inter~Section Part 6 - 2006 to 2009 UPDATES Inter~Section Part 7 - 2009 EQUAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS - PART 1 Inter~Section Part 8 - 2009 EQUAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS - PART 2 Inter~Section Part 9 - 2009 EQUAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS - PART 3 Inter~Section Part 10 - 2009 EQUAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS - PART 4