‘Return to the Closet?’

In the last 10 years in Scotland, those aged 75 years and over has grown by 31%. Care is an issue of concern for all older people. We are concerned about choice and control, how we will be treated, and to what extent we can be ourselves.

For older LGBT ⃰ people, there are added concerns. We have lived though less liberal times. Some of us have had to hide our identity in different spheres of life, deal with stigma and discrimination, and live without clear LGBT role models. Many of us have fought personal and political battles to come out and be out. And so our greatest concern is having to ‘Return to the Closet’ later in life when we have worked so hard to be out – and indeed, leave the closet door open for others. Older LGBT people are more likely to live alone and not have any children, and so the question ‘who will look after us as we age?’ is important.

‘Return to the Closet? is a short film in which older members of the LGBT community worked with film artist Glenda Rome to create a film which illustrated their thoughts and feelings around ageing, being part of the community and what care means to them and the support they’d want from care providers – whether at home or in care homes.

The film was created as part of a collaboration between Luminate, LGBT Health and Wellbeing, artist Glenda Rome and participating community filmmakers. Luminate commissioned the film with support from LGBT Health and Wellbeing.

Anne Gallacher, Director of Luminate, highlighted that

this film is about starting a conversation in the context of our ageing population. Luminate’s creative work gives voice to older people’s views, hopes and concerns, and this project enabled older LGBTI+ people to create a film that explored the questions they wanted to raise. All older people have different histories, identities and needs, so how can we ensure that our care environments are safe and accepting for everyone, and that they value our diverse identities? How can we retain choice and control in our later lives? ‘Return to the Closet?’ prompts discussion of these and other questions, and highlights the importance of ensuring that older people’s care services meet everyone’s needs.

Annette Rae, Service Manager at LGBT Health and Wellbeing, said

our intention is that ‘Return to the Closet?’ is viewed by staff at all levels of health and social care who support older people. It is estimated that at least 5-8% of the population are LGBT so of course staff are already supporting people who are LGBT. Yet for reasons highlighted in Return to the Closet? people might be hiding who they are. LGBT Health and Wellbeing has also developed an LGBT Age Audit Tool designed to support services and organisations working with older LGBT people to become more LGBT inclusive.

A note about ‘LGBT ⃰’ – by using this term we include the entire diversity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community including nonbinary, queer, intersex and asexual people.