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Rainbow Hub

Welcome to the Rainbow Hub — everything you need to know about the COTA SA programs, services, events and activities for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community aged 50+.

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Welcome to the Rainbow Hub — everything you need to know about the COTA SA programs, services, events and activities focussed for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community aged 50+.

The Rainbow Hub is for everyone in the LGBTI community, particularly if you are experiencing difficulty accessing the services you need through existing channels, have limited or no access to technology, accessibility requirements such as vision impairment or living with or supporting someone living with dementia.

Through the Rainbow Hub you can seek help to contact and navigate My Aged Care, access important information, fact sheets and resources, and participate in a range of community events, including monthly lunches and regular information sessions.

Upcoming Events

Programs and services

The Rainbow Hub includes a number of programs and services focused for the LGBTI community aged 50+

Silver Rainbow

LGBTI Aged Care Awareness Training; available to aged care providers and delivered by qualified trainers with lived LGBTI experience.

Rainbow Memories Matter

In March 2021, we were pleased to hold our Rainbow Memories Workshop: Challenging invisibility and celebrating our histories. While this initial event has now passed, the aim remains important. See the tips handout below for information about why it matters to preserve these memories and ideas of how you can.

Rainbow Horizons

Inclusive end-of-life care and planning

COTA SA places great importance on creating an inclusive society that moves beyond ageism, and enables the participation of older South Australians as co-producers of change, including end of life planning.

The Rainbow Horizons Project is an important initiative designed to create greater cross-generational support in relation to end of life planning, care and dying.

Through this compassionate community, you will feel more included, heard and connected to your community, and stakeholders will better understand the needs of LGBTI people.

The Rainbow Horizons Project is being delivered in partnership with Office for Ageing Well and is scheduled to conclude in June 2023 to:

  • Facilitate conversations between LGBTI community members about end-of-life care, planning and dying, both between LGBTI elders and between elders and younger members of the LGBTI community.
  • Build and trial an intergenerational LGBTI ‘compassionate community' model that supports end of life care, planning and dying.
  • Develop a model that can be replicated elsewhere in the future.
  • Engage with relevant service providers who will support a trial LGBTI compassionate community (such as funeral businesses, aged care providers and palliative care services).

Members of the Project Working Group include Syd Farrell, Lucy Hackworth, Stephen Leahy, Stephanie Russell, Nikki Sullivan, Gage Brewer, Polly Sumner Dodd, Zac Cannell, Ben-Hur Winter and Jackie Wurm (Executive Officer — Rainbow Horizons Project Officer).

For updates about the Rainbow Horizons Project, subscribe to the Rainbow Hub e-news.

This project is one of the compassionate communities referred to in SA Health's South Australia's Palliative Care Strategic Framework 2022-2027 (available to download at the link below).

For more information please contact Jackie Wurm, Rainbow Horizons Project Officer, via email at jwurm@cotasa.org.au

Rainbow Horizons Past Consultation and Activities

  • February 2022: Community Forum - Don’t leave me this way – honouring our lives in community
  • April-May: Focus groups to gather LGBTI+ community insights in Adelaide city, Burra, Christie Downs, Mt Gambier, Salisbury, Victor Harbor
  • June: Focus groups with providers and other stakeholders
  • August: Co-Design workshop held with LGBTI+ community members and providers and other stakeholders
  • September – December: Trial Model Group meeting

Rainbow Horizons Selected Media Coverage

Rainbow Horizons Useful Resources

The Rainbow Horizons project complements work being undertaken by peer organisations interstate.

  • An online toolkit 'Taking Control: LGBTQ+ Toolkit for Palliative Care and End of Life Decisions' was produced by ACON’s ageing initiative, the LOVE Project (Living Older Visibly and Engaged) and funded by NSW Health. More here: ACON - Taking Control
  • The Department of Health has funded LGBTIQ+ Health Australia to deliver a three-year project that aims to build the capacity of the palliative care sector to provide inclusive services to LGBTIQ+ people accessing palliative and end-of-life care. This will be achieved through research, training (e-modules for health professionals) and development of Community of Practice groups, including a Scoping Review. More here: Palliative Care - LGBTIQ+ Health Australia
  • A virtual exhibition Imagining Ageing Futures brings together LGBTQ+ multicultural people to reflect on their experiences and imaginations of ageing in Australia. The website features participant photographs and words from Rainbow Horizons Trial Model Group member Jin Chen’s PhD project: Visit Imagining Futures Website
  • Voluntary assisted dying is now available to eligible South Australians, read COTA SA's update including links to useful information and resources

Rainbow Hub Advisory Group

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The Advisory Group works closely with COTA SA to guide the Rainbow Hub programs and lead advocacy priorities and engagement. The Advisory Group also liaises with other key LGBTI stakeholders such as the South Australian Rainbow Advocacy Alliance (SARAA).

Watch a recent video message from the Advisory Group by clicking play in the image to the left. Running time 20 seconds.

Submissions

Below are details of some of the COTA SA submissions that the Rainbow Hub has contributed to.

Feedback on the Spent Convictions Act 2009 — Amendment Bill

Letter from COTA SA and the Rainbow Hub Advisory Group confirming that it is our position that all convictions for homosexuality be automatically expunged from the record.

Read the full letter

Spent Convictions — South Australian Government factsheet — Text version

Spent Convictions — South Australian Government factsheet — Easy read version

The South Australian Joint Statement against the Religious Discrimination Bill

COTA SA was one of 14 signatories to the joint statement. Jane Mussared, COTA SA Chief Executive said. "The Religious Discrimination bill has worried a generation of people who have vivid memories of the discrimination, hurts, abuse and lack of safety that has been the experience for most of their lives. They worry that the bill, as law, would legitimise that all over again".

Read the Join Statement against the Religious Discrimination Bill

COTA Australia's Submission to the Religious Discrimination Bill's 2nd Consultation Draft

This was developed with our input including a letter from COTA SA's LGBTI Advisory Group

Read the submission

Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety — National LGBTI Health Alliance Submission

In September 2019, the National LGBTI Health Alliance came to Adelaide to speak with LGBTI older people and elders, and their carers. This consultation, along with others in Melbourne, Canberra, Tasmania and on the Sunshine Coast informed the submission.

Read the submission

The LGBTIQ People Ageing Well Project

The LGBTIQ People Ageing Well Project has concluded, with the final report sent to government and key stakeholders in August 2018.

The main aim of the project was to engage with older people from South Australia’s LGBTIQ communities to find out what matters most to them as they age to better inform policy and create a groundswell for change to the policies that impact on the lives of older LGBTIQ people.

The project also celebrated the lives and contributions of older LGBTIQ people. Their stories and lived experiences have the power to promote a greater understanding of a unique set of issues, but also the power to create changes that will support and enhance the lives of South Australia’s older LGBTIQ population.

Through the project COTA SA and co-authors the SA Rainbow Advocacy Alliance (SARAA) wanted to make sure there were opportunities for people to celebrate their achievements and to come together in a forum where their many and varied contributions could be appropriately acknowledged.

This report makes a number of recommendations that can and will make a significant difference to the lives of older LGBTIQ South Australians, and must be addressed by all levels of government and the ageing and aged care sector.

COTA SA will now work alongside SARAA to push for actions in line with the recommendations detailed in the final report.

As the peak body for older South Australians, COTA SA is committed to ensuring all older South Australians have an opportunity to be heard about what matters to them as they age. For more information about COTA SA's continued work on issues for older LGBTIQ people, please contact us.

The LGBTIQ People Ageing Well Project full report

Rainbow Hub e-news

Stay up-to-date with news and events for LGBTI elders by subscribing to the Rainbow Hub e-news. Simply complete and submit the form below.

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Previous editions

In the media

More information

For more information about COTA SA’s Rainbow Hub, please contact:

Jackie Wurm
Project Officer — Rainbow Hub
08 8232 0422
cotasa@cotasa.org.au

Useful links

Subscribe to the COTA SA E-newsletter to stay up to date with all the latest news and events

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