Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee Room S1.61, Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600

Please find attached a paper in support of this submission regarding age discrimination and the proposed legislation. The paper outlines issues of serious concern in relation to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex (GLBTI) older people in Australia. These issues are of vital importance to any discussion of legal reforms which seek to outlaw discrimination on the basis of age at a Federal level. Of particular importance is the reality that most GLBTI older people have life histories that include the experience of severe persecution, prejudice and injustice. As such, GLBTI older people have lived through an era when, for most people, public openness about relationship status was not an option, and the alternative of remaining publicly ‘invisible ’ became a way of life. As such, they are more likely to be vulnerable to discrimination, including on the basis of age. It is vitally important that the legislative reforms being considered do not serve to further entrench such ageist invisibility. Failure to outlaw sexuality and gender identity – based discrimination at a Federal level leaves older GLBTI people at serious risk of precisely the discrimination which the Bill seeks to address. To apply the measure