About Polari

Who we are:

Set up in 1993, Polari is an independent lesbian and gay  organisation that works for better services for older lesbians, gay men bisexuals and transgender people.

* Raising awareness of the needs of older lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people
* Listening to older lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people
* Getting their voices heard by service providers and planners
* Exploring innovative ways that their needs might be addressed
* Working with service providers, commissioners and planners on the development of good practice and LGBT friendly services

Policy and Strategy

Polari works to influence policy and strategy at national and local (London) levels so that all relevant services recognise the needs of, and provide appropriately for older lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people.


The Polari in Partnership Project

This project (which ran from 2002-2005) involved older lesbians and gay men in local decision making by

* Convening local groups of older lesbians and gay men in Hackney, Kingston and Westminster to discuss their needs and their views of local services
* Working with local councils; PCTs and other health service trusts; local Age Concerns and the voluntary sector; and other relevant bodies.

Work focused on housing, health, care and other help to stay independent, and community safety.

We developed our future directions from what we learned from this work at local level, from our season of seminars Autumn/Winter 2004/5, and from our conference in October 2005.

Keep in touch with Polari through the web

Polari regrets we are no longer able to send out a newsletter until we have raised new funds for an information worker.  In the meantime please do join our website and be informed when we add new material to it.  We know this is not ideal as many older LGBT people don't have web access, and we are working to recreate a hard copy newsletter.