Partners in care: being equally different: lesbian and gay carers

The images of other people we see on a daily basis in the media invite us all to compare ourselves with, identify with, or aspire to be like whoever is shown. Mostly this activity is of little significance and hardly touches our lives, but the further we know ourselves to be different from the norm then the more challenging those differences become to us.

This article describes the Lesbian and Gay Carers’ Network. The author argues that there remains a deep need within the health and social service sector, and indeed in the residential home sector, to learn more about us as ‘gay’ people, to learn how to empathise so that they feel safe to talk about their relationships and needs, and to encourage them to request help without feeling threatened. When society achieves that then the need for ‘gay’ people to act  as a network will decrease, but society is  long way from that goal at present.