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RESOURCES: LGBT AGE CAPACITY BUILDING PROJECT LAUNCH NEW RESOURCES

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Tuesday, 11 August 2015
Written by  The Editorial Team
 
 
The LGBT Age Capacity Building Project has launched a suite of resources to support older people’s services toRainbow Flag become more welcoming and inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
Part of LGBT Health and Wellbeing, and funded by Reshaping Care for Older People’s Innovation Fund, the project was set up in response to the barriers that older LGBT people face in accessing services.
While many LGBT people can live their lives much more openly today, most still face assumptions and prejudice, and many face rejection by family and friends, harassment, and hate crime. It’s important that services understand the issues that LGBT people have to negotiate, in order to be proactive in creating a space where LGBT people feel safe to be who they are.
To support organisations to provide the best services they can to older LGBT people, the LGBT Age Capacity Building Project ran a series of seminars and events, alongside workplace training sessions. In consultation with older members of the LGBT community and professionals working in health and social care services, the project produced a set of resources, including: a short film, a top tips booklet, the LGBT Age Audit Tool, activities and support for running LGBT awareness sessions, and a set of practical info sheets on inclusive imagery, the needs of older transgender people, and creating safe spaces.

The resources include:

Ten Top Tips for becoming more LGBT-inclusive: this booklet is a great introduction to the issues that older LGBT people face, and includes a wealth of practical things that you can do. It was developed in consultation with older LGBT people, and includes poetry, prose and visual art created as part of our Lifelines intergenerational storytelling project.
Five tips for providing services to older transgender people: the needs of transgender people are often overlooked or misunderstood. This infosheet provides specific, practical tips for supporting older transgender people.
LGBT Age Audit Tool: aimed at individuals and teams providing direct support services to older people, this tool is designed to help identify practical steps towards ensuring LGBT-inclusive practice.
Creating a safe space: one really positive thing that you can do to make sure that LGBT people feel safe, welcome and included is to introduce a safe space commitment, which sets out the expectations for everyone in the space. This resource is designed to help you develop a safe space commitment and put it into practice; it also includes some useful phrases for upholding it in trickier moments.
In the frame – creating inclusive imagery: these ten tips, written by photographer Becky Duncan of Open Aye, are designed to help you to create publicity and information materials which proactively send the message that LGBT people are welcome in your services.
Top Tips Poster:  this poster includes four tips for supporting older LGBT people along with practical actions that everyone can do right away. It’s designed to go up on staffroom noticeboards, and is a great way to get your colleagues thinking and talking about inclusivity.
Community Consultation Executive Summary: we surveyed 182 older LGBT people to find out what they want in terms of social opportunities, information and support. The report can help to inform the work you do to be become more LGBT inclusive.
What we did – a summary: an at-a-glance guide to the work of the project and the impact that it’s had.
Impact Report: sharing the learning from the LGBT Age Capacity Building Project as a whole, this report will be useful to those who are interested in understanding how to change services to better meet the needs of older LGBT people, whether within their own organisation or in a wider capacity building role. It may also be of interest to members of the LGBT community who would like to know more about the work being done to make services more inclusive. The report details how the project was run, what we learned, and what changes the work created.

Activities and resources for training sessions

These days, many professionals are keen to make sure that they are inclusive and welcoming, but it’s something which hasn’t always been talked about, and often it can be difficult to know where to start. Running a training session will support your team to find out about the issues and language, and get comfortable discussing gender and sexual orientation, so you can avoid assumptions and effectively challenge prejudice. The files include everything you need to facilitate the activity – aims, instructions, and worksheets.
How to run your own LGBT awareness training: this resource is designed to help you plan out your training session, and includes some example session plans and tips, as well as a list of resources.
Quiz – PowerPoint presentation and notes: this quiz is an introduction to some of the barriers that prevent older LGBT people accessing services. It is designed to get people thinking and talking, and to build knowledge and understanding of the issues.
Looking at language – instructions, cards and answers: this activity is designed help you to get to grips with some of the words that relate to sexual orientation and gender identity, to equip you with the language to talk about it, and to help you avoid using offensive and/or outdated words.
LGBT Timeline – Instructions and Worksheet: Want to run your own awareness training? This creative activity will help you to think about LGBT life histories, getting into the shoes of older LGBT people and developing an understanding of some of the issues they have faced during their lives. The two files include everything you need to facilitate the activity – aims, instructions, and a worksheet. We’re developing a series of these resources, so watch this space for more!
Are We Being Served?: a 22 minute video in which LGBT community members reflect on their experiences, hopes and attitudes towards mainstream services as they get older. The film is a great resource for running your own awareness raising training session, either by yourself or in a group. These training notes will support you to get the most out of the film, and are designed to help you to draw out the key issues and think about practical ways of engaging with them in your own practice and/or organisation.
Naked Among Thistles: this anthology includes creative writing that you might like to read out to the group, especially the pieces on p38 and p54.
Transvisions: a short film about transgender people’s experiences and identities.

Other LGBT Health and Wellbeing resources

LGBT Health and Wellbeing produce a range of other online resources including eBulletins, publications, impact reports, films, audit tools and event reports.

Stand

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In the time since Russia enacted it’s rather draconian ‘gay propaganda’ laws, much has been written about the chilling effect it’s had on LGBT people in the country and also how it has emboldened homophobes to feel they can act against gay people with impunity, which has led to vicious attacks, torture and beatings.
Stand takes us into this world and the lives of gay Russian couple Anton and Vlad, who live together and have a life where they know that as long as they keep their sexuality behind closed doors and amongst those they trust, they can live a fairly safe and happy life. However, while driving along they witness a vicious attack on a gay man. With Vlad fearful of what will happen if they intervene, they end up doing nothing.
After they discover that the man died, Anton begins to investigate the crime, becoming increasingly fixated with finding out who the thugs were who targeted the gay man. While Vlad supports Anton’s quest – at least to a point – he is fearful of the consequences. Anton is determined though, putting his own safety at risk – as well as putting the future of his relationship in danger – in order to find the criminals. His quest leads to a very perilous conclusion.
Stand is a well-made and fairly engrossing film, which takes us into the situation in Russia not just by saying, ‘Oh isn’t this awful’, but by getting us to question what we would do if we were gay and living in that country. Anton and Vlad are both understandable characters – one wanting to do something about the attacks on the LGBT community, while the other sees the danger both to their lives and to the comfortable existence they’ve built together.
While it’s nice to think we’d be bold like Anton and try to make a difference, the film doesn’t shy away from the negatives of that, both the physical dangers and the psychological ones. Stand cleverly keeps Anton right on the edge between bravery and foolhardiness, ensuring the audience constantly questions what he’s doing and whether we would do the same.

Although set in Russia, it deals with universal issues it’s easy to empathise – although it certainly makes the case that being LGBT in Russia is not an easy thing. Stand deals with quite a lot of big ideas and it does it well, helped enormously by Russian-born lead actors Renat Shuteev and Andrey Kurganov who, in their first major film roles, make a convincing and sympathetic couple. Indeed, one of the film’s greatest strength is investing in their relationship and how their tender, relaxed domesticity behind closed doors contrasts with the difficulties and dangers outside their apartment. It ensures both them and their relationship feels real and that they are not just ciphers the filmmakers are using to make a point.
Overall Verdict: An engrossing look inside a deep and dangerous moral dilemma that works both as an exploration of the specific problems in Russia and of issues that touch all our lives.
Reviewer: Tim Isaac

It’s All So Quiet

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When they named this film, ‘It’s All So Quiet’, they weren’t joking. This is not a film that will be remembered for its verbosity and wall-to-wall action, but that’s exactly as it should be, as Nanouk Leopold’s movie is a look at the stillness inside people, of isolation and the things that are locked away.
Helmer is a Dutch farmer who lives a largely solitary existence, interrupted only by caring for his father. His dad is sick, largely immobile, taciturn and spends his time lying in bed waiting to die. Helmer also has occasional visits, such as from milk collector Johan, who seems slightly fascinated by Helmer.
Then there’s young farmhand Henk, who is almost as quiet as Helmer, but who awakens feelings the farmer has repressed and which he may still not be ready to deal with.
This isn’t a movie for everyone. That’s partly because, as the title suggests, it is very quiet. The film attempts to reveal what is inside the characters through their actions (or lack thereof) rather than their words. Helmer spends a decent chunk of It’s All So Quiet sitting completely still looking at the wall. That may sound incredibly dull, but the film successfully builds a picture of a man who is so repressed and pulled away from everything that he now has an existence as much as a life. There’s the constant feeling that he wants something else, but has reached the point where he believes his small, sad, constrained reality is all that is possible.
However, he has perhaps convinced himself of this so much, that he doesn’t even notice the possibilities of the world around him.
The fact the film is based on a novel by Gerbrand Bakker called The Twin hints that perhaps Henk is almost Helmer as he was when he was young and there was still the possibility for him to reach out and live a more fulfilled life where he accepted his sexuality, if only the right circumstances had presented themselves. His father meanwhile may represent where Helmer is headed if nothing changes – left with nothing but regret and waiting for death.
However, perhaps Henk’s actions may open up a glimmer of hope for Helmer’s future.

It may not be the most exciting of movies, but It’s All So Quiet is thoughtful and surprisingly interesting. To get the most from it, you do need to be able to appreciate a film that asks the audience to build a picture rather than holding their hand and telling them explicitly who these people are. If you can do that, the quietness and solitude the movie exudes are palpable, and while it may have a few too many shots where little is outwardly happening, it is effectiveness in building a picture of an unlived life, and done in a way that film would normally shy away from.
Overall Verdict: For many it will be far too quiet and lacking in action and explanation, but for those willing to do the work, It’s All So Quiet is a melancholic but surprisingly affecting look at isolation and sadness, seen through the eyes of someone whose sexuality and possibilities lie hidden perhaps even from his own consciousness.
Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Gay Mayor for Belfast?

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A poll for radio station LBC has found that 71 percent of Londoners would be happy if the next Mayor of London was gay. The poll of 1100 adults found that most Londoners would be happy if the next Mayor of London was gay. Sixteen per cent said that they would be uncomfortable with a gay person taking the position.

Now I wonder what a poll of Belfast might say, bearing in mind that we have already had one gay mayor in Northern Ireland already – or were there more that I am unaware of.

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Masked men hurl smoke bombs at venue of Ukraine gay forum

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By AFP | AFP – Sat, Aug 15, 2015

LGBT Activists

AFP/AFP/File – LGBT activists were planning to hold a forum on the history of the gay rights movement in Odessa after a local court banned the planned march over fears it could spark violence


 
Ukranian men throw gas

At the gay pride march in Kiev on June 6, 2015, scufles broke out after activists

Masked men on Saturday Aug 15, 2015  hurled smoke bombs into a venue in the Ukraine port city of Odessa where gay rights activists were to hold a forum after deciding against marching in defiance of a ban.

They threw “several” smoke bombs at the participants before fleeing, Odessa Pride spokesman Kyrylo Bodelan told AFP, adding that no one was hurt in the attack.
LGBT activists were planning to hold a forum on the history of the gay rights movement in the strategic Black Sea port city after a local court on Thursday banned the planned march over fears it could spark violence.
Bodelan earlier denounced the ban, saying it was “illegal and violates our constitutional right of assembly.”
A handful of activists demonstrated near the town hall in defiance of the ban, drawing taunts from passers-by.
An AFP correspondent saw an elderly woman trying to wrest a placard from one demonstrator that read “Dignity Has No Colour”. Police quickly intervened to defuse the confrontation.
Prominent extreme nationalist group Pravy Sektor (Right Sector) — once central to the demonstrations in Kiev that toppled a Russian-backed president last year — had voiced fierce opposition to Saturday’s event.
“We won’t beat the gays, but this march will not take place,” local Pravy Sektor leader Sergui Sternenko was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
A gay pride march in the capital Kiev in June — the second in the nation’s post-Soviet history — was marred by scuffles after activists were attacked by far-right nationalists. Around a dozen people were injured.
The socially conservative country — locked in a bruising war with pro-Russian insurgents — is seeking a closer alliance with Europe and remains keen to promote civil liberties freely enjoyed in much of the West.
But homophobia remains rampant in a nation where the conservative Orthodox church wields considerable influence and nationalist far-right groups have grown more prominent.

Odessa regional governor Mikheil Saakashvili, the Westernising ex-president of Georgia, kept his distance from the controversy, with his administration insisting it was a matter for the city authorities

Teenagers brutally attacked in Manchester's Gay Village during phone robbery

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One of the victims, 19, was stamped on as he lay helpless in Sackville Gardens
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Two teenagers were knocked to the ground and beaten during a brutal robbery in Manchester’s Gay Village.
One of the victims was stamped on as he lay helpless on the floor in Sackville Gardens in the early hours.
The attack, carried out by a gang of four, came between 4am and 4.45am on Tuesday, August 4.
The victims, both 19, believed to be from Derbyshire, were visiting Manchester city centre for a night out.
They were approached by the offenders at the top end of Sackville Gardens near Canal Street, and the gang made brief conversation before they all left. The offenders soon returned and attacked the pair, then stole their mobile phones and fled.
Police have arrested three people in connection with the attack and are now appealing for information.
One of the offenders was described as white, about 5ft 10in tall, skinny to medium build, mid-20s, and either bald or with very short light brown hair on the sides. He was wearing a dark grey, long-sleeved hooded top with writing on the front.
Another was said to be white, mid-20s, about 6ft tall and wearing a baseball cap, jogging bottoms and a dark grey hooded top. The others were also thought to be wearing jogging bottoms and hooded tops.
Three men, aged 19, 20 and 25, have been arrested on suspicion of assault and were bailed until September 23, pending further enquiries.
Det Sgt Mark Astbury said: “These two young men had simply come into Manchester to enjoy a night out when, for absolutely no reason, they were set upon by a gang of four men. With strength in numbers, they subjected these two innocent young men to a nasty and unprovoked attack and stole their mobile phones.
“We have made three arrests but our inquiries will continue until we establish the identities of everyone involved and brought these people to justice. I would therefore appeal to anyone who has information or who witnessed what happened to please do the right thing, come forward and tell us what you know.”
Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

PSNI are requested to help in the search for a suspect from Wales

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Alex Warburton's homeAlec Warburton, 59, has been missing from his home in Swansea since last month and police believe he may have been murdered..

Welsh Police have discovered Mr Warburton’s lodger David Craig Ellis, 40, who they wish to speak to, has travelled to Ireland via ferry.

 
At a police conference, Det Superintendent Paul Hurley  confirmed David Craig Ellis, who is wanted for questioning in connection with Mr Warburton’s murder, was seen getting on a ferry at Birkenhead Merseyside on August 5 and disembarking the following day in Belfast.
He also statedthat they had found Mr Warburton’s car at the Birkenhead ferry port.
If you have any information please contact the PSNI, and do not approach or confront Mr David Ellis.
 

UK sex offender who murdered gay student jailed for life

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21 August 2015

RIP Billy Mankelow

Richard Danter was found guilty of the horrific crime

UK sex offender who murdered gay student jailed for life


A British sex offender who murdered a gay student will be jailed for life.

Richard Danter, 31, pleaded guilty to the ‘sustained and brutal’ murder of 20-year-old Billy Mankelow in court.
He was ordered to serve a minimum sentence of 15 years and eight months.
It was found that Danter, who identified in court as bisexual, kicked and stamped on Mankelow more than 20 times and left him in a horrific state under a railway arch.
The two had met earlier in the evening at a gay bar, the Viaduct. Mankelow had been there on a night out with colleagues at the call centre he worked at part time while studying social sciences at the University of Leeds. The two then went to the Dark Arches area for a sexual encounter.
When Danter attacked him, kicking and stamping on him, he returned to the bar. After another drink, Danter then went back to the body that he had severely injured and dragged it to a place where it was harder to see. He then stole Mankelow’s phone, passports and other items from his clothing to prevent him from being identified.
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Mankelow was found half naked, bleeding heavily from his head by two members of the public. He died in Leeds General Infirmary from major head injuries later that day on 26 April.
As reported by the Yorkshire Evening Post, judge Peter Collier said: ‘You subjected him to an unspeakable degree of violence.”
‘I do not accept that you did not know he was still alive. You abandoned him there under those Dark Arches. You went back, you bent down to move him.
‘Others who found him subsequently had no difficulty in immediately realising that he was still alive.’
In court, it was revealed Danter had been jailed for four years after attempting to rape an 18-year-old with learning difficulties.
Mankelow’s family released a statement, reading: ‘Billy loved life and had lots of friends. He was independent and motivated and went to study at Leeds University. Billy loved Leeds, a place where he made a life for himself and had lots of friends.
‘Billy’s family and friends are all distraught at the way Billy died; which was so senseless and unnecessary. Billy was simply out with friends having a good time with his life ahead of him.’
Detective Chief Inspector David Shipperlee, of British Transport Police, said: ‘Danter dragged Billy into an alcove in the railway arch, presumably to conceal his body, and left him for dead.
‘His death is such a tragic waste of a young life, a life taken by a violent, evil and dangerous man, who has a history of previous convictions for violence and sexual offenses, who is now where he belongs – behind bars.’

Gay conversion therapy to become illegal for LGBT minors in Illinois

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Illinois
“Illinois kids can now rest easy in the knowledge that they cannot be forced or coerced to undergo dangerous and discredited treatments to fix who they are.”

The practice of gay ‘conversion’ therapy on minors is to stop
Bruce Rauner, the current Governor of Illinois has signed a bill banning the practice of gay conversion therapy on Thursday afternoon, making it the fifth jurisdiction after California, New Jersey, Washington D.C and Oregon.
“Illinois families can now have confidence that the mental health professional they turn to in times of uncertainty may not use their state license to profit from their children’s pain,” Samantha Ames, staff attorney with the National Centre for Lesbian Rights, said in a statement following the governor’s action on Thursday.
“Most importantly, Illinois kids can now rest easy in the knowledge that they cannot be forced or coerced to undergo dangerous and discredited treatments to fix who they are.”
The American Psychological Association concluded that the attempt to change a persons sexual orientation through conversion therapy does not work. Many former patients of behavioural therapy have testified about the psychological damage it has caused.
President Obama has also called for an end to the practice, saying it has “devastating effects.”
John Paulk a former advocate for the ex-gay movement appeared on Newsweek’s infamous cover in 1998, arguing for the efficacy of conversion therapy. He has since divorced his wife of 20 years and lives as an openly gay man. Speaking on the subject of behavioural therapy Paulk said: “Going through conversion therapy is like when children are molested, and they live with that for their entire lives. They’re still being harmed, even through it happened years ago.”
He went on to add: “I am very much against any therapies that would attempt to coerce a child into a box for their sexuality.”
The Illinois law goes into effect on the 1st January 2016.
Words Joseph Roddis, @iamjoeroddis

Orange Order stands by Fermanagh County Grand Master after 'homosexuality is wrong' remarks

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Stuart Brooker said that any gay members would ‘likely have to leave’

Belfast Telegraph logoBy Staff Reporter

PUBLISHED21/08/2015

The comments were made in an interview with Impartial Reporter journalist Rodney Edwards.
The comments were made in an interview with Impartial Reporter journalist Rodney Edwards.

The Orange Order has backed Fermanagh County Grand Master Stuart Brooker after he said gay people could not join the organisation because “homosexuality is wrong”.

Speaking in an interview with The Impartial Reporter, Mr Brooker said any member that was gay would likely have to leave the organisation.
He was speaking following the publication of a good relations audit by the County Fermanagh Grand Lodge aimed at building community relations and awareness of the work of the organisation.
Asked for the Orange Order’s view on homosexuality, Mr Brooker told The Impartial Reporter: “We’re a Christian organisation and therefore we believe in what the Bible teaches.
“The Bible teaches that homosexuality is wrong.
“That doesn’t mean we are anti-homosexuals, LGBT people or that we hate people. I personally don’t agree, I believe homosexuality is wrong because the Bible teaches me it is wrong.”
Mr Brooker said the organisation had never had to deal with a gay person trying to join, however, he said the rules and regulations would not allow it.
“We are back to the teachings of the Bible again.”
And, while calling for “civil and religious liberty for all”, the prominent Orangeman was critical of some aspects of the Islamic faith, saying Muslims make “us feel like strangers in our own country”.
Mr Brooker has also shared posts on his personal Facebook profile from the extreme-right organisation, Britain First. However, he stressed he did not align himself with the organisation.
He added: “I wouldn’t be anti-anybody… I respect other people’s faith.”
On the Orange Order he added: “Many commentators call us anti-Catholic, but we are not anti-Catholic, we are pro-Protestant.
“We are a Christian organisation and we have Christian values and we must in inverted commas, ‘love everybody’ and show Christian charity.”
An Orange Order spokesman, in a statement, told the Belfast Telegraph: “The opinions were expressed during a wide-ranging interview, following the publication of a community audit commissioned by County Fermanagh Grand Orange Lodge with the intention of increasing understanding and good relations across the community.
“The remarks reflect the personal views of Mr Brooker. However, his viewpoint on certain issues would be shared by many within the Institution and others within wider society.”

Other items of interest:

Gay activist’s ‘King Billy was a homosexual’ claim sparks furore
Orange Order historian disputes gay rights campaigner Tatchell’s claim that King Billy was bisexual