University of York and Pride in Ageing at LGBT Foundation invite you to take part in an online focus group to share your thoughts on faith and religious freedoms in care spaces as either someone who is LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) and over 50, someone who is LGBT and below 50 and has an personal interest in this area, or a friend, partner, family member or carer of someone who is LGBT and over 50.

Our focus groups are part of a wider research project entitled: ‘Balancing religious freedoms, sexual orientation rights and trans gender identity protections in the provision of health and social care to older lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or trans people in the UK’. The project is funded by the C and J B Morrell Trust, which also funds the Morell Centre for Toleration, and is supported by York Law School, University of York, UK. It aims to conduct a scoping study to understand the key issues in relation to how religious freedoms, sexual orientation and gender identity rights are navigated in older age care spaces.

The person leading the project is Dr Sue Westwood of York Law School, University of York. She is joined by project partners including LGBT Foundation, Opening Doors London, SAND and Brighton and Hove Switchboard.

Further information about this event:

- This session will be held on Zoom and closed captions will be switched on during the event. Please let us know if you have any additional accessibility needs. You will receive the Zoom link 24 hours before the session.

- You will be asked to sign a consent form before participating in this session which permits your comments to be used in as part of the study ‘Balancing religious freedoms, sexual orientation rights and trans gender identity protections in the provision of health and social care to older lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or trans people in the UK’. Please see here for more information on this study.

- The Univeristy of York agrees to anonymise all contributions, and delete the original recording once the study has been published. You will be asked for some demographic information as part of the study. Please arrive on or just after the start time, as latecomers can not be admitted once we have started recording.

- By participating in the focus group you kindly agree not to share the experiences you have heard from other people during the session with any identifying information.

- You are only required to attend one of the four sessions to have your comments recorded.

- You can withdraw from the study at any time and will be told how to do so at the session. Information about LGBT Foundation's helpline and support services will be shared as part of the session, and a dedicated support worker will be there if you need to chat further about anything.

- if you have any queries inadvance of these focus groups, please contact prideinageing@lgbt.foundation.