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Age Concern’s Opening Doors programme for older lesbians‚ gay men and bisexuals is having a major impact‚ a new poll from the Pink Paper has shown.

Age Concern has been nominated in the ‘most gay-friendly organisation’ category in the Pink Paper’s Readers’ Awards 2007 – alongside the London Metropolitan Police‚ Unison‚ Amnesty International and the Quakers.

The Pink Paper is the UK’s leading lesbian‚ gay and bi (LGB) newspaper.

Since the launch of the Opening Doors programme in 2002‚ Age Concern has been providing support to local Age Concern organisations to help make their front-line services LGB-inclusive. Some of the main achievements have been providing resources and support on issues affecting older LGB people‚ such as bereavement‚ health‚ housing and residential care. In 2006‚ 'The whole of me . . .' a resource pack for care homes helping them provide LGB service was distributed to over 3‚000 care homes.

Gordon Lishman‚ Age Concern England’s Director General‚ said:

“We estimate that there are some 700‚000+ older lesbians‚ gay men and bisexuals in the UK‚ who need our services‚ every bit as much as the rest of the older population. However‚ in the not too distant past it has been difficult for them to come forward because of the prevailing prejudice they encountered in society at large.

“It is precisely to counter that prejudice that we welcome opportunities such as this to demonstrate and promote our support – not only of our lesbian‚ gay and bisexual users‚ actual and potential‚ but also of all our lesbian‚ gay and bisexual staff and volunteers‚ of whom we are immensely proud. Thank you for nominating us!”

If you would like to vote for Age Concern you can do so via the Pink Paper or online at www.pinkpaper.com/awards/pp.htm - scroll down to category 39. Voting closes at 10am on 1 January and the results will be announced on 11 January 2007. 

For further information on Age Concern’s Opening Doors programme visit www.ageconcern.org.uk/openingdoors

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