You, Me & Us: Wellbeing and the LGBTQ+ Community (Event Report)

With support from the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership in September 2021, we hosted two safe and collaborative discussion spaces for any LGBT+ people (16+) living in or around Edinburgh, to explore what wellbeing currently means for them, both as an individual and for us, as a community.

The first discussions took place on Wednesday 22 September, with 8 individuals from the LGBT Age project. Participants were 50 years and over, with the majority being 70 years +. To ensure we reached these community members, we hosted these discussions in person while community members attended a monthly social group called Coffee Posse. Discussion revealed that community members were not able to access, or interested in, attending events online and otherwise would not have been able to have their say.

On Wednesday 29 September, we hosted the online event for 19 people, creating a supportive, validating framework to hold discussions with the wider community, with respect to all LGBTQ+ identities and experiences. Attendance reflected a wider trend of ‘Zoom fatigue’ The discussions took place in break-out rooms and the main space and included guided prompts to explore the theme of ‘Wellbeing’ and what people’s current needs are. We have been able to collate these contributions and are delighted to be able to capture discussions in both a community poem, curated by Gray Crosbie, and a graphic illustration by Madeleine Leisk to accompany this report. To help us create a relaxed atmosphere during the event, Edinburgh based singer-songwriter Adonye B also performed two songs live, including his new single ‘New Life’.

As LGBT Health and Wellbeing settles into a new community hub in Leith, we are delighted and proud to display the work created through this project, by Gray Crosbie and Madeleine Leisk. You can download the artwork here. The poem and the illustrations have captured contributions beautifully and provide a rich insight into the needs of Edinburgh’s LGBTQ+ community, at this extraordinary time in history. By sharing the words and images created by them we hope to bridge the digital world with our physical spaces, remind ourselves how far we have come and where we wish to go from here.

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