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Darebin City Council
Attn: Paula Weekley,
Customer Services Centre
274 Gower Street, Preston 3072
Re: Draft Aged and Disability Services Strategy
Submission of Comments on the Draft Document from Mannie De Saxe and Kendall Lovett
Unit 2, 12 Murphy Grove, Preston, Vic 3072 (PO Box 1675 Preston South Vic 3072)
Telephone (03)9471 4878 email: josken_at_zipworld_com_au
Wednesday 26 September 2001
However you don't define the changing nature of this ageing population. It is in this area where we wish to concentrate our comments, in particular under lifestyle which doesn't appear to be covered by the review team.
heterosexual marriage, heterosexual de facto, and sexual minority (lesbian, gay and transgender) domestic partnership.
3) To date senior citizens are regarded by all community services as heterosexual, either married, single, divorced, male or female. Now aged services have to recognisedomestic partners and educate staff about this emerging official group and provide for their needs.
4) Domestic partnerships are not new, only the title is. In the past lesbians and gays were expected to keep quiet about their relationships. Since the 1960s in Australia they have been coming out of the closet and being more open about their sexual relationships.
5) In your Findings you state (Para 3) that perceived benefits of participation in group social and recreational activities were not limited to the specific activities but included emotional support. Frustrations were expressed including the method and equity of support provided, difficulties for emerging groups to gain assistance, the level and quality of communication with Council staff.
6) You could have been referring to the experiences encountered by lesbians or gay men or transgendered people in these findings. Probably the frustrations were not identified as being from any such because gays and lesbians, even after 40 years of activism, find that they are unwelcome or shunned if they express their opinions in social and recreational activities when in need of emotional support accorded to heterosexual people.
7) There was a survey and report done in NSW for the Sutherland Shire (Southern Sydney) in 1996 entitled The Tolerance Report. This project uncovered the widespread ignorance and the extent of the direct and indirect discrimination against sexual minorities in community services.
A group was formed called InterSection to follow up on The Tolerance Report and discovered that the report's findings were borne out throughout metropolitan and country council areas resulting in the NSW Local Government and Shires Association (LGSA) (November 1999) agreeing to ”develop policy regarding support for the social and cultural needs of the gay and lesbian community in NSW.” (Attached: See InterSection ”More than Tolerance” - summary of The Tolerance Report.)
8) A similar study presented in Birmingham (England, July 2000) by Nigel George, a researcher at University College London, found that older lesbians and homosexual men are neglected by social and health services intended to help pensioners because the services concentrate on heterosexuals. The researcher, Nigel George, said that older homosexuals did not feel that they fitted in anywhere and were a source of ill-will in certain mainstream services for older people such as day centres or residential care homes. HIV education programmes concentrated almost exclusively on young homosexuals in the mistaken assumption that homosexual men did not remain sexually active into old age.
9) In an interview in the Miami Herald (USA, 2 July 2000) Edda Cimino (70 plus) suffering from diabetes, heart and respiratory troubles, belongs to the first generation of openly gay seniors grappling with retirement, said she wouldn't feel comfortable at a straight retirement home with retired housewives. But there is one thing the retired schoolteacher Cimino knows, she will never creep back into the closet.
10) Jo Harrison, researcher at the University of South Australia, in a published article, Reforming Australian Gerontology, (24 January 2000) states that Australian gerontologists routinely discuss concerns related to family, caregivers, income maintenance, social support and community networks all from a perspective of heteronormativity. Federal policy on care for elders makes no mention of gay and lesbian needs. Given these cicumstances, gays and lesbians are virtually invisible in gerontology in Australia. She goes on to say that homophobia and heterosexism within services for the ageing need to be challenged.
She also noted the dominance of religious organisations in care for older adults. These religious organisations are most resistant to providing gay supportive services. Harrison quotes an activist interviewee: “One of the comments we've had when we complain about homophobia from home support workers is that the service doesn't discriminate - which means they don't acknowledge that there can be special needs of gays and lesbians in terms of training for their workers.”
11) In conclusion, we trust that Darebin staff training programmes will include positive education about homophobia, much the same as racism is responded to, so that violently homophobic people are not employed. Furthermore we would like to think that recognition of sexual minorities (lesbians, gays and transgendered people) will be accorded access and equity in all Council services in the future.
You appear to have a very impressive and diverse Aged and Disability Services Review Team. It would be encouraging to discover that these key Council people agree with us oldies that not everyone is straight in the Garden State!
Mannie De Saxe and Kendall Lovett, 2/12 Murphy Grove, Preston, Vic 3072 ------- End of forwarded message -------
I hope you have received a letter from me that would hopefully help with your enquiry.
If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to email or call me on 9471 3048. Mendo Kundevski (Cazaly Ward Councillor).
We received your letter of reply dated 15 March 2005 and have noted your comments. We are aware that Council's role relating to aged care in nursing homes and retirement villages is limited to advocacy, but Council's advocacy in relation to volunteers who service ageing gays, lesbian and transgender people in their homes, with items such as meals on wheels need to ensure that volunteers are not homophobic in their approaches and do not discriminate in the services provided.
We are also not satisfied that people who require information about sexuality are able to easily access this in Darebin Libraries. We notice that Darebin Libraries holdings in many educational and information items are not up-to-date and we are in the process of checking in the libraries whether there are specialist areas in other fields under subject matter. We would like to see gay, lesbian and transgender items, as well as HIV/AIDS items, put together in an easy-to-use, easy-to-find process so that younger - and older - library users may find the material with the minimum of trouble and with the maximum of user- friendly resources.
We are waiting for Council to find the resources to assess the numbers of gay, lesbian and transgender people in Darebin and to ensure that sexual minorities in Darebin receive the same non-discriminatory treatment as is available to all other residents of Darebin.
We are concerned that the ALP which controls the state and the council are now emulating the federal government in their approach to our communities, particularly because of the Victorian ALP's preferences in the last federal election giving the final Victorian senate seat to a religious right group whose sympathies do not lie with the homosexual citizens of the country. We were particularly concerned with the indecent haste with which the federal ALP supported John Howard's hurried passing of a bill to ensure that gay and lesbian marriages are not recognised in this country and ensuring that they will not be allowed to take place here, thus ensuring further discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender people in the law. This homophobia engenders hate crimes against our communities and entrenches discrimination.
Thank you for responding to our letter.
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne
Hi Mannie and Kendall,
We have commenced some work internally in A&DS at Council and a few staff have attended various workshops in that context. Fran Harper who is the coordinator of our Extended Care Unit is coordinating work around Aged Abuse which will lead to enhanced guidelines and approaches for staff here. It will aslo give us some clarity so we can have "informed input" when we are asked by various other government departments on our views on the issue of Aged Abuse.
If it is OK with you I will ask Fran to arrange a time with you to capture your perspectives while we are undertaking this work over the next couple of months.
Regards,
Mike
Mike Webbmwebb@darebin.vic.gov.au
-----Original Message-----
From: josken_at_zipworld_com_auDear Mike,
Any developments relating to your last email?
We will be attending a conference in Sydney in November hosted by the Australian Association of Gerontology, and gay and lesbian issues are on the agenda for a few of the sessions.
These are only some of the issues which we raised when we last wrote to you.
Ultimately, as the two of us are in our eighties, we probably won't be around to be activists in the homophobia debates for a lot longer, but we will actively pursue matters for as long as we are able to.
Regards,
Mannie and Kendall
------------------------------------------------------------------------On 16 Sep 2006 at 17:32, Mike Webb wrote:
Thanks Mannie & Kendall,
I will have a look and see who else I need to include in a discussion
-----Original Message-----
From: josken_at_zipworld_com_auSubject: Re: FW: (Fwd) Elder Abuse Prevention Project Inquiry
Dear Mike,
Our turn to apologise for the slow response - we went to Sydney in July and all sorts of problems arose before and after the trip - some ill health, visitors staying here from interstate, urgent family matters - and last, but by no means least, two geriatrics who take a little longer to deal with correspondence than they used to!
That said, here are some of the issues with which we have problems, and they concern not only Darebin but most other local government areas in Victoria. We achieved a few breakthroughs in New South Wales when we lived there, local government documents in NSW finally including gay and lesbian issues to be addressed, but in the 6 years we have lived in Melbourne, local government so far has not been receptive to gay, lesbian and transgender (glt) issues.
If you look through community information documents drawn up by Darebin council, there are no references for services for ageing members of the glt communities. When it comes to issues of discrimination, where are there training issues dealt with by community workers in dealing with glt people either living on their own or with same-sex partners?
We have just received an issue of Darebin council's latest newsletter. There is mention of the Seniors' Festival due in October, but nowhere does it mention that the Rainbow Tea Dance for seniors is being held in Preston Town Hall. Why?
People who belong to sexual minorities are ignored by council. Look through records of what correspondence we have had with council since we moved here in 2001, and you will find that although there has been some acknowledgement of our submissions, the contents have been studiously ignored.
When we mentioned in correspondence (copies sent to Darebin) about elder abuse and a survey undertaken by the state government in which we made submissions after attending a late forum called specifically for the glt communities towards the end of their study, the final document totally ignored the glt issues raised.
This is a form of elder abuse as is the silence from all levels of government on the issue.
We are treated as if we are invisible.
But we are not invisible, and feel that our needs are not discussed, we are not consulted, and there is no interest in a group of people who represent a substantially increasing proportion of the population in the Darebin council area. There are no available statistics, but the Darebin council area is believed to have a very large number of members of the glt communities.
And incidentally, although this letter discusses mainly the issues of older people, the needs of younger glt people are not sufficiently well catered for when a booklet issued for contacts for assistance for glt people does not even provide a health reference to the Victorian AIDS Council at a time when Victoria is showing an increase in the number of people becoming HIV positive.
We do not have the energy to attend meetings of council or other bodies within council and although we are still completely mobile and able to fend for ourselves at the ages of 80 and 84, we wonder how many gay, lesbian and transgender people there are in Darebin whose needs are completely ignored because nobody has bothered to enquire about them or assess who they are and what they need.
Maybe this helps to fill you in somewhat about our concerns, but we assume that, based on previous responses from council, we will again not be taken seriously.
You may or may not have read what is below on this email, but if you have, you will perhaps begin to understand what we are talking about.
Regards,
Mannie De Saxe and Kendall Lovett, InterSection (and Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne)
On 2 Jul 2006 at 14:49, Mike Webb wrote:
Hi Kendall & Mannie,
I apologise for the slow response however I have been unsure how to interpret the e-mails. I would appreciate a call on 8470 8525 so I can asisst with your request.
Regards,mwebb@darebin.vic.gov.au
-----Original Message-----
From: Angela CosgriffSubject: FW: (Fwd) Elder Abuse Prevention Project Inquiry Mike, Paul, not too sure who this should go to????
-----Original Message-----
-----Original Message-----
We sent the item below on 26 March 2006 to various people and organisations.
To date we have only received one response, and this was received six weeks ago.
We are writing to remind you that we were invited to attend an Elder Abuse Prevention Project Inquiry and would expect the courtesy of a response, particularly from the State government and other related organisations.
In view of the fact that the report almost totally ignored the gay, lesbian, transgender and HIV/AIDS communities, we feel an explanation is required.
Kendall Lovett and Mannie De Saxe, For Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: Self25 March 2006
On 20 September 2005 Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne (LGS), received an invitation from Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria (GLHV) to attend a GLBT specific forum: "Promoting the dignity and safety of Senior Victorians".
The forum was organized by the Office of Senior Victorians in partnership with the ALSO Foundation and Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria and was held on Monday 26 September 2005 at the La Trobe University's premises at 215 Franklin Street Melbourne. Apparently, it was in answer to the Office of Senior Victorians' consultation paper outlining ways to improve the State Government's approach to the prevention of elder abuse.
The forum was attended by 16 people including representatives of gay and lesbian organizations in Victoria, plus the chairperson, Barney Cooney, of the Advisory Committee's Elder Abuse Prevention Project. The person conducting the meeting seemed oblivious of the fact that it was intended as a gay, lesbian and transgender consultation.
In December 2005 the "Report of the Elder Abuse Prevention Project - Strengthening Victoria's Response to Elder Abuse" was published based on submissions and the community consultation forums held between 24 August and 21 September 2005. The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) specific forum was not mentioned in the forums listed on page 46 of the report and neither was the COTA/VAHEC one in October (see page 22 of the Report).
At the LGBT consultation we were told that the Elder Abuse Prevention Project would welcome submissions from us and that the closing date had been extended from 30 September to 7 October 2005. There is also no mention of this in the report. Why so?
Lesbian and Gay Solidarity read the report from cover to cover to try to find out what had been concluded from the issues raised at the specific 26 September 2005 forum. The 46 page document stated in the final paragraph of the section on Community Awareness on page 32: "Education strategies need to recognize cultural diversity, indigenous groups and the needs of older gay and lesbian people."
The Report also goes on to say: "These and other groups need to be consulted." All very well but where did you take any notice of what we had to say? We are aware of at least two submissions made by GLBT organisations, Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria (GLHV) and Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne (LGS).
Nowhere in the Report is there any acknowledgement or mention of either of these submissions. If the deliberations on 26 September 2005 were meant to be a sop to the Gay, Lesbian and Transgender communities to show that they were being consulted, the outcome shows that it was a waste of everybody's time.
All the ageing organizations in Victoria - and beyond the state's borders - ignore the Gay, Lesbian and Transgender communities despite ongoing representations made to them. Previously this has included COTA, National Seniors and the newspaper Victorian Senior, but this now seems to extend to a Victorian government department investigating elder abuse in the community.
In September 2005, SBS's Insight TV forum screened a programme called "When I get Older-----" on ageing and nursing homes and in November 2005, the ABC's Background Briefing aired a Sunday morning radio programme on Financial Abuse of the Elderly. Neither of these programmes included any members or mention of Gay, Lesbian and Transgender communities.
The outcome has been once again that the needs of Gay, Lesbian and Transgender older people in the general community are completely ignored as homophobia takes hold and discrimination once more rears its ugly head.
Elder abuse of Gay, Lesbian and Transgender people has been well documented by researchers such as Dr Jo Harrison of the University of South Australia in her doctoral thesis of 2004: "TOWARDS THE RECOGNITION OF GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX AGEING IN AUSTRALIAN GERONTOLOGY" but the community at large fails to acknowledge the existence of such problems. We even gave the woman who conducted the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender specific forum a note in which we mentioned a research paper published in Vol.16 (2) 2004 of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services on Ageing Gay Men in Inner City Sydney.
Bodies which provide services for the elderly, such as councils, nursing homes, hospitals, hostels, and other such organizations employ people either as paid staff or volunteers who are not trained to deal with, nor screened for dealing with Gay, Lesbian and Transgender people and many have homophobic attitudes.
Religious institutions have exemptions from anti-discrimination legislation which means they can discriminate (a very real form of abuse) with impunity.
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Specific Forum appears to have been hastily convened, no doubt because no thought had been given to the needs of gay, lesbian and "other groups" who are also part of the ageing population of Victoria.
Those of us who attended our forum were lucky that someone suddenly remembered that we existed. Even so, it was recent publicity in the media about elder abuse that alerted us to the fact that the Report had been released. But we weren't initially sent a copy and were unable to get hold of a copy of the Report until mid-March 2006 despite it having been published in December 2005.
Kendall Lovett and Mannie De Saxe
Copies to: Minister for Ageing, Vic., MCV, Melbourne Star, BNews, 50plus, Victorian Senior, COTA Vic, COTA National Seniors, Office of Senior Victorians, Darebin Council, GLHV, ABC, SBS, Dr Jo Harrison
------- End of forwarded message ------- Attachments: C:\Documents and Settings\Mannie De Saxe\My Documents\My Pictures\GLHV Poster.pdfInter~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 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 4Mannie De Saxe also has a personal web site, which may be found by clicking on the link:
RED JOS: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISM
Mannie's blogs may be accessed by clicking on to the following links:
MannieBlog (from 1 August 2003 to 31 December 2005)
Activist Kicks Backs - Blognow archive re-housed - 2005-2009
RED JOS BLOGSPOT (from January 2009 onwards)
This page updated 21 MAY 2014 and again on 16 AUGUST 2017
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