It took long enough, but I’ve finally finished my report on NUS Conference 2010. As it’s my report to the Sabbatical Officer Team it’s written in a personal – rather than passive – context. So, rather than do a copy-paste job and pretentiously assume that the entire LGBTQ agrees with me, I’ve instead opted to link to it on my blog, riiiight HERE.

Iranian filmmaker, actress and lesbian activist Kiana Firouz is in danger of being deported back to Iran for her “crime of unrepentant homosexuality“; for which the punishment is execution.

Kiana worked as an underground activist for LGBT women’s rights. During this time, she documented the horrific treatment of LGBT people in Iran and shot footage for a documentary about the commonplace horrific abuse of human rights there. When items of footage were discovered by Iranian Intelligence, Kiana was harrassed by agents in Tehran and fled to the UK as a student two years ago. Kiana has since directed and played a key role in Cul de Sac, the culmination of her work.

Her application for asylum in the UK was rejected by the Home Office, who were fully aware of the persecution Kiana faced in light of her sexual orientation. The Ministry argued that she could return to Iran and conceal her homosexuality. Seeing as the well-publicised evidence blatantly contradicts this ruling, it would seem that the Home Office is guilty of, at best, gross incompetence; at worst, wilful negligence.

LGBTQ rights in Iran

Iran’s “lawful” approach to sexuality; noosing two unidentified gay teens for their “crime”.

LGBTQ equality was once a reality in Iran, prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution; a Gay Liberation movement was in the works and even publicised gay marriages were tolerated. Since then, the country’s laws regarding LGBTQ rights have been based on an extremely conservative interpretation of Islamic law. Homosexuality is punishable by lashing, or execution by hanging in more “extreme” cases; Transexuals are institutionalised and often forced to undergo hormone treatments; LGBTQ people as a whole undergo sex change operations for fear of extreme persecution. It is utterly disgusting.

Make no mistake; forcing Kiana to return to Iran is nothing short of marching her to her death. We’re talking about a women who, in the face of extreme oppression, had the courage to step forward and speak out against it; to put a face to the abuse suffered by Kiana and her LGBTQ comrades in Iran. Every free and liberal LGBTQ person has an obligation to stand with her in solidarity and prevent this travesty from taking place.

What the student community can do

First and foremost, please sign this petition and join this Facebook group and show your support. And please…spread the word. Raising national awareness of this issue is a crucial part of this campaign.

Both the Lib Dems AND the Tories pledged to change the rules specifically for asylum seekers; acknowledging the consequences suffered by LGBTQ people who – just like Kiana – were sent back and told to keep quiet under the previous Government’s policy. That being said…the new Minister for Women and Equalities, Theresa May, has consistently voted against LGBTQ rights and – in my humble opinion – was a poor choice for the job. Regardless, it is time for her to do her part to uphold her party’s pledges. I will also be writing to Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dem undersecretary for Equality – who, by contrast, has an excellent voting record for LGBTQ rights – to doubly ensure that conservative views towards homosexuality in the UK do not further jeopardise Kiana Firouz. I invite you all to lobby your MP’s to take action on this issue.

My brother recently wrote an article for the Guardian that might be of some interest to LGBTQ students, especially in the current climate. It is aptly entitled “HIV is not a gay disease” and speaks out against the inaccurate association of sexual transmitted diseases with the gay community; more specifically, the comments of Julian Lewis that I myself raised in my recent blog about the General Election.

For your consideration.

Join the Guild of Students in showing that students DO care about politics, that students WILL be voting in this election, and politicians SHOULD be listening! Pick up a Vote for Students t-shirt from the Guild tomorrow or simply wear pink whilst going about your daily tasks on campus!

The BBC will have a big screen on the Rugby Pitches from 12pm, and we will be showing the debate live in Joe’s from 8.30pm! Sign up to the NUS Vote for Students campaign at to find out if your candidates have pledged to vote against a rise in tuition fees if voted into parliament. Expect lots of media attention about the student vote, and have a great day!

Some of you may remember my “Give Blood Because We Can’t” campaign back in Freshers’ week. The National Blood Service since initiated a policy review which I mentioned in my post-October Guild Council post, which began with a forum to which members of the NUS LGBT campaign were invited. The forum brought forth several proposals, including a five-year ban on gay/bisexual men, rather than a lifetime-ban imposed under the current policy. Although this was just as unacceptable, it indicates that they’re under enough pressure to make some kind of fair concession.

In light of this review, Give Blood Because We Can’t became an ongoing awareness campaign, as action campaigning is pointless while a decision is still being made. That being said, this review will conclude this summer; conveniently, after a general election has taken place. The LGBTQ community must make it abundantly clear that it will not tolerate any attempts to retain the current, outmoded and downright homophobic policy; regardless of how many right wing officials are elected to power.

Project Negative are holding a protest outside the Birmingham Blood Donation Center on Tuesday, 5th May, 5PM – 7PM. We’ll be going as a group and meeting at University Station between 4:15 and 4:30 to get there with plenty of time. If you’re able, please come along and show your support!

RedBrick released an article on November regarding a proposal by the EHRC to include sexuality in the national census. RedBrick contacted me for comment, which I eventually – other commitments aside – provided as a comment on the online article. This issue has come up a number of times this year and there’s a strong feeling (and frankly, ironically fascist) prevailing view that there is only one corrent opinion on the matter.

This proposed measure – which I regard as immature and in need of serious refinement (as I said in my comment) – is another instance of attempting to solve the problems of society with positive discrimination i.e. pedastooling a category of people who have been historically oppressed. While, in theory, it’s a viable short-term solution which encourages minority participation and forces greater diversity, it’s an extremely artificial measure of adjusting demographics that is not viable in the long term. Labour-dominated organisations such as the NUS and (to a lesser extent) the Guild and the LGBTQ Association over the past few years seem to believe that it is.

First and foremost, employing positive discrimination as a long-term solution presupposes that a certain minority (LGBTQ being a keen example) is consistently oppressed and will remain oppressed for the rest of time; therefore they deserve ongoing special treatment. However, it’s easy to lose perspective over time and we have to take a step back and ask ourself “why did we want this in the first place?”

• Are we looking for payback? Do we feel that majority groups must suffer as we [once] did?
• Do we quietly enjoy the extra attention we receive from society, and do we want to continue to continue exploiting it?
• Are we so afraid of history repeating itself that letting go of this special treatment will restore the oppression we suffered before?
• Is using “the historical oppression and misrepresentation of one group” a convenient cover for why – as an example – there is less involvement from women than men in a certain group?

Let’s not kid ourselves; positive discrimination is a balancing act and often breeds resentment among majority groups. They are made to feel powerless and as if they are being punished for the transgressions of others “like them” throughout history. It also encourages minority groups to retain their own resentment and ultimately perpetuates this endless segregation, which is hardly conducive to achieving equality in society.

Admittedly, one could argue that positive discrimination is part of the reason that the LGBTQ Officer position exists. I’d quite willingly accept that argument, even if it does put the viability of my job into question, and instinctively I’d try and defend it. In my mind, LGBTQ support is more about being there for people who feel isolated in a decreasingly heteronormative society, but aims to give them what they need to accept who they are within society; not to segregate themselves in isolated groups. Myself and the Officer team attempted to convey the importance of such non-segregation with the LGBTQ housing issue last year. The naive idealist in me hopes that, one day, sexuality and gender equality will evolve to the point where an LGBTQ Officer and Association are unnecessary.

Since stating these views on this particular RedBrick article, I have been attacked by several Labour advocates on campus and in the NUS who seem to believe that their view is the only correct view…confident that they are given the “divine right” by the fact that the government they support is currently in power – and I stress “currently”. I hasten to add that some of these reactions have been nothing but nasty and spiteful, and hardly deserving of consideration, but the sheer numbers of student who submit to these attitudes is deeply concerning.

Matthew Shepherd, tragic victim of a homophobic hate crime.

I believe that everyone should have a fair and equal chance to succeed in life, regardless of race, sexuality, gender, ailment or any other such irrelevant factor. If we respond to discrimination by discriminating in the other direction, so to speak, we may never overcome the borders of segregation.

The oppression suffered by LGBTQ people, ethnic minorities, women and disabled students – particularly in the past – was unacceptable. The oppression we are still – to some extent – subject to from certain groups is unacceptable. This oppression has manifested itself in some horrific tragedies over the last few decades and it is our duty to see that that they are never repeated. This is, after all, why we have liberation, but just remember that the point is to ensure equality for all; not battle for the supremacy of one group over others.

If you’re interested in being a delegate or observer for NUS LGBT Conference, nominations are now open! Please submit a manifesto to nus-delegate-elections@lgbtq.co.uk before next Monday 12PM.

Although funding is still somewhat of an issue, we presently have four delegate and two observer spots to fill in addition to myself, the LGBTQ Officer-Elect and the newly elected chairperson.

Nominations will close on Monday 12PM, at which point online elections will begin. Remember the voting link will be sent via the LGBTQ mailing list, so if you’re not on the list please contact or the committee secretary ASAP! xD

Due to a miscommunication, an impromptu vote was held on Wednesday during which most of the delegate positions were mixed up, as was who goes as the “current” officer, and the issue of how many people we can send (due to funding) has not yet been confirmed. This took place without my prior knowledge and without notice because of concerns that the Association would miss the deadline…which the NUS – in their infinite wisdom – have not bothered to disclose to any constituent Unions.

In any case I would like to sincerely apologise to all LGBTQ students on campus for this incident, especially those who were present on Wednesday.

Election to be re-held online

In any case, I have declared the Wednesday election as officially invalid and have made the following alternative voting arrangements:

1. An elections subcommittee has been formed of myself, the LGBTQ Officer-Elect and the newly elected Chairperson. The Secretary and one Open Place committee member (also recently elected) hold places on this subcommittee for oversight and accountability.
2. From 12PM on Wednesday 31st March, a 5-day nomination period will begin. Potential candidates, please submit your nominations to nus-delegate-elections@lgbtq.co.uk and you will receive a notice of confirmation with 24 hours of sending your nomination. I’d recommend a manifesto, like this really old one, describing to LGBTQ students why you’d make a good delegate and how you could contribute to Conference.
3. Nominations will close at 12pm on Monday, 5th April at which time a 3-day voting period will begin. This will take place online and every member of the LGBTQ mailing list will receive a unique voting link via email.
4. Voting will close at 12PM on Thursday, 8th April. Results will be announced over the following weekend.

Why online?

Normally I and the Chair would arrange an Emergency General Meeting (EGM), but with it now being the Easter holidays, rallying a sufficient number of students is nigh-impossible. Besides, we’ve always seemed to have better luck with our online communications this year

Why the mailing list?

The Guild operates an “autonomous liberation” policy in which only people that, through self-definition, fall under a particular category (i.e. ethnic minorities, LGBTQ, women). This is to ensure that the only the people who will be affected by an election in the long-term are allowed to vote for it; outside interference can be extremely disruptive to that end.

Every year, during the Guild Officer elections, this policy is flagrantly abused and liberation officer elections are disrupted into becoming a popularity contest. Using our mailing list gives us a greater assurance that LGBTQ students are the ones voting and gives us the added benefit of being able to prevent duplicate votes; uniquely identifying voters by their email address. I know it’s not exactly foolproof, but it’s a hell of a lot more reliable, accurate and far reaching than general meetings or the previous attempt at voting for delegates.

If you are an LGBTQ student and you’re not on the mailing list, please contact either myself/the Officer-elect or the committee’s secretary before voting begins to get yourself registered! As always, all information is treated as confidential.

The Guild of Students Officer elections are all over and done with and Emma Cooper has been elected as LGBTQ Officer for the 2010/11 academic. 1,214 students have made an excellent choice and I would like to congratulate her on her election. As for the 289 students who somehow felt that RON was a better choice, well…jog on, basically.

As with all of the new officers, Emma takes office on 1st August 2010 after my term as Officer ends. However, in the first few days following the announcement of results, Emma stood in for me while I was locked away completing my final year project and has done an amazing job, on top of her good work on the LGBTQ Committee over the past year no less. This bodeswell for the year to come

I’d also like to congratulate all of the newly elected officers – particularly Johnny Davis for making Guild history as the first re-elected Officer!

Elections of 2010/11 LGBTQ Committee

Myself and Kitten also held the Annual General Meeting of the LGBTQ Association last Thursday, 17th March. Knowing that I would be more-or-less gone next year, and that the Association has become somewhat dependent on my technical abilities to maintain our online media, I pushed through a motion to create an Information, Communication and Publicity Officer position on the LGBTQ committee.

My relatively crappy report on campaigns and projects was easily dwarfed by Kitten’s well-prepared PowerPoint presentation – our way of satisfying constitutional requirements of committee reports. In both cases, we had an opportunity to report on the successes and failures of this year to our members and committee candidates.

After listening to nomination speeches, distributing ballets and counting votes, we announced the election winners who are the new LGBTQ Committee:

Dan Guzman Chair	Andy Roche Secretary	Rob Unwin Treasurer	John Chivers ICP
Christian White Open Place	Katherine Johnson Open Place	Sarah Green Open Place	Caitlin Horne Open Place
	Sarah Perry Guild Councillor	Dan Doherty Guild Councillor

A lot of these were elected unanimously; congrats to all in any case

I will retain my co-chair position on the committee with Emma shadowing until the 1st August at which point Emma will take over.

Lee Pitchford, manager of Missing bar in the Birmingham Gay Village is pleased to present the Midlands BIGay Night Out on Saturday, 27th March. This event is a charity fundraiser and all proceeds will goto ABPlus and Cancer Research UK – two very worthwhile charities – so please come along and show your support.

Coaches are picking up from the city centres of Stoke on Trent, Wolverhampton, Derby, Coventry, Nottingham, Walsall, Telford, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, Kidderminster Northampton, Leicester, Burton, Cannock, Manchester and Gloucester. Coach tickets are only £10, cover the outbound and return trips and are available to buy online – click here!

Coach ticket holders get:

• Cheap return travel to Birmingham!
• Fun and games on the coach!
• Barcrawl to 5 venues; fun, games and drink offers!
• £4 off entry to DV8
• £2 off entry to the Gale
• £2 off entry to Chic

I’m advertising this event to LGBTQ students at the University of Birmingham as well as our Coalition partners and the Midlands LGBT* student population at large. It’s for a good cause so please come along!<

Some of you may remember me mentioning the lack of sexual health supplies available to LGBTQ students in my first January blog. In the blog I mentioned that sexual health had become a neglected area of focus, although later that month I tweeted about the problems I was having acquiring them from local sexual health clinics.

The main problem is that the Labour government – in it’s “infinite wisdom” has mandated sexual health charities to collect age/gender/ethnicity statistics on those who use condoms. Since neither myself, nor the LGBTQ Association hold no such information from our members (only an email address for the mailing list, and optionally so), this was obviously out of the question.

Building up the LGBTQ-Controlled supply

However, suspecting that the Guild of Students would have access to said information AND considers sexual health a priority issue for students, I contacted the VPW, Johnny Davis (pictured left). He was good enough to provide us with a supply of condoms from Brook; a charity that supplies condoms from the ARC. Thanks, Johnny!

So the crisis was abated. I have made these condoms available on request in the LGBTQ Room; please speak to myself or a committee member or attend a Wednesday Coffee Afternoon and ask there.

Additional supplies of condoms and lube have also been procured and donated to the LGBTQ thanks to regular active member John Chivers (pictured right, swimming in condoms and promoting sexual health with the caption ^_^). Again, contact myself or the committee as with the condoms. The LGBTQ Association considers the sexual health of it’s members high-priority and are committed to upholding it.

Other sources of safe-sex packs

Supplies of condoms and lube are also available through the Guild’s Advice and Representation Centre (ARC), supplied by the afore-mentioned charity Brook are available; just ask at the ARC for a form and they will direct you appropriately.

Health Gay Life also provide packs of up to 12 condoms per person; again, you will have to order but you can order online and receive via post.

Sexual Health Information

Keep your eyes peeled over the coming weeks; the support pages on the LGBTQ Website shall see a few new subpages dedicated to sexual health. They *might* initially manifest themselves as a copy of this blog, but it’s not like *everyone* reads my ramblings.

LGBTQ (amazing committee and up-and-coming peoples) swimming in condoms. Fun times xD

Last week, while teching at one of the LGBTQ events I was informed by a student that she and her girlfriend had encountered an instance of homophobia from the bouncers at Gatecrasher, at one of the “Loaded” nights – supported, promoted and essentially run by the Guild.

This kind of thing has happened before (in Gatecrasher; two friends of mine – lesbians in a committed relationship – told off for kissing and warned that they would be thrown out if they continued. In that instance, myself and Kitten became rather concerned, but I was personally asked not to follow it up. Those involved believed it was an isolated incident.

In this latest instance, well, it was pretty much the same thing. Although it was quite obvious that straight couples kissing was perfectly acceptable. The two obvious concerns here are:

1. The bouncers are actively engaging in homophobia; whether or not it is sanctioned by the management remains in question.
2. This is an ongoing problem, as evidenced by multiple occurances.

Since raising this with our members and committee at a recent LGBTQ coffee afternoon, people have since raised more instances of homophobia occuring at Urban Village, Risa and more instances at Gatecrasher. I’m deeply disturbed that these events are not being reported to myself, the LGBTQ or the Guild; no one has to take this lying down. That’s kind of the point of LGBTQ representation.

Don’t accept it as a fact of life

Due to personal events occuring over the past week I have been unable to follow this up. If the student who brought this up could get in touch with me and provide some sort of statement, that would be awesome

I also urge any students who encounter homophobia, biphobia or transphobia in clubs to report it to me (m.ward@guild.bham.ac.uk); it’s one of the reasons I’m here. Any information you give will be treated with the utmost confidence and no names need be given.

As some of you may be aware, there has been a great deal of media coverage on the Pope’s recent attack against the equalities bill with a “missionary zeal”. Said coverage will attest to the fact that the Pope’s is mainly concerned with restricting religious organisations’ right to “act in accordance with their beliefs”. Specifically, to exclude women and homosexuals.

The Pope, when addressing Cardinals and Bishops of the UK, lauded the UK’s firm commitment to equality and opportunity for all, however described the equality of homosexuals as a “violation of natural law”_[src]. However, restricting the right of people to express themselves in accordance with their beliefs is debatable, when such “beliefs” are twisted to justify AND mandate persecution and discrimination of a particular group. This kind of archaic thinking does not belong in the 21st century.

So here we have a classic case of one groups’ rights infringing on those of another group; conflicting in such an aggressive and militant fashion, there can be no satisfactory resolution. However I’ve always believed that compromise can be found between two groups so vehemently opposed. It’s simple. Anyone who has seen the Spiderman films may recall the rather cheesy quote:

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

Rights are, in a sense, a form of power (better worded as empowerment) and I do believe that each right ensues an equal amount of responsibility – in the case of equal rights, one is responsible for respecting the right of others to equality. The “right” of more conservative religious groups to believe what they want to believe is nothing but an excuse for biggotry, and is a violation of their responsibilities as human beings.

This is hardly the first controversial move made by Benedict XVI in the name of “natural law”. Last year, he was heavily criticised for his claims that condoms would make the African AIDS crisis worse. He claimed that the distribution of condoms aggravated the problem rather than helped to combat the spread of these viruses. Of course when he elaborated further, he was clearly advocating celibacy as an alternative and – while there’s nothing inherently wrong with advocating celibacy – enforcing it through this kind of scare-mongering among third world countries is immoral and sickening.

It’s no secret that Catholic church teachings have historically condemned the very idea of artificial contraception, but the issue of HIV and AIDS have kinda made this a grey area in which more progressive Christian sects are thinking rationally. The Pope, however, has taken this to a whole new level with his highly fascist approach.

This is a direct threat to the work that myself, the LGBTQ and the Chaplaincy have been doing towards combatting the archaic religion vs. sexuality ideal, and the Pope claiming to speak in “the name of God” is an utter offence to students of faith at Birmingham (LGBTQ or otherwise). I urge LGBTQ students, activits within the LGBTQ Association and – more importantly – followers of all Christian denominations to join me in condemning the Pope’s outmoded statements, conservative stance and underhanded tactics.

LGBT History Month is finally here! The LGBTQ Association and our West Midlands LGBT Coalition partners are putting on a series of events to celebrate LGBTQ history.

More information is available at coalition.lgbtq.co.uk

If anyone’s able to show up there is an opening ceremony at Coventry University this evening at 6:30PM. I’m heading over from Uni station just before 5 if anyone wants to come along for an unofficial and adventurous mooch.

Today is the ninth annual Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK, a day commemorating the millions who were killed in the Nazi Holocaust.

The Guild and JSoc held an event yesterday in the Guild Council Chambers at which a Holocaust survivor was invited to tell her story. Due to University Commitments I was sadly unable to attend the event, however I’m told that it was a fitting memorial. It is essential that we honour the memory of the victims and and never forget the horror that was allowed to take place during this dark time in history. Among them were some six million Jews and some ten thousand LGBTQ people.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

George Santayana

The LGBTQ Association will be holding a discussion on the Holocaust – with particular focus to persecution of LGBTQ people – at the Wednesday Coffee Afternoon. The Association will be showing Paragraph 175 at the usual Sunday evening Film Night and would like to extend an invitation to all members of JSoc and members of the Jewish Community on campus.

That’s this Friday coming; as the poster says, http://scifinight.lgbtq.co.uk/ has all the information.

Again, as the poster says, works of science fiction have contributed to the struggle for LGBTQ equality by drawing attention to the issues faced by LGBTQ people through analogy, or – as is the case with Doctor Who and Torchwood – illustrating a non-heteronormative world and smashing any natural audience expectations of heterosexual main characters.

I am helping with the running of this event; so whether or not you have a nerdy side, come along. It should be educational as well as entertaining.

The Counselling and Guidance Service is kicking off the “coming out, moving on” support group this week, starting tomorrow (Wednesday 20th January 2010). These run as confidential support groups wherein issues of coming out to parents, family, friends and colleagues are discussed.

These groups will run every Wednesday between 3:15PM and 4:45PM at 3 Elm Road on the following dates:

• 20th January
• 27th January
• 3rd February
• 10th February
• 17th February
• 24th February

More information on this group and the other support groups run by the Counselling Service is available here. The service has always been an excellent source of support for LGBTQ students, and I would strongly recommend it to any such student who may be experiencing issues at University.

Q-Chat

The Counselling Service also launched “Q-Chat” last Thursday, which myself and other LGBTQ volunteers trialled last term.

Q-Chat is a moderated online chatroom that runs every Thursday evening during term time between 8PM and 9:30PM to provide a safe, confidential and anonymous service through which LGBTQ students may discuss common issues with each other and the Counsellors.

Homophobia is Gay 4 will be run this term. The date is as yet indeterminate but I am hoping for a Thursday evening in week 5/6.

Unlike previous years, the fourth incarnation of this highly successful event will be run chiefly by the Lib Dem Society, who have appointed a sub-committee to handle HIG.

While the commitee and volunteers will help with stewarding, I – as Officer – have been put in charge of liasing with the Lib Dems and fulfilling our part of the effort. However it’s not really a one-man band kind of thing…so I’m looking for 3/4 LGBTQ volunteers – weather or not you’re commitee/association members – to join my own little sub-committee and help out with the following:

• Working/meeting regularly with Lib Dem Soc
• Logistics of transport/stewarding
• Offers, promos and other financial shizzle.
• etc. etc. etc.

It’s a good way to get involved in the LGBTQ and it’s something you can put down on a manifesto should you want to run for committee or a Guild position in the future. And it’s good to volunteer; Emod said so. xD

If you’re interested, then feel free to contact me (m.ward@guild.bham.ac.uk or via the various media accessible via my blog) as soon as you can.

Muchos thanks!
Matt

Today is World AIDs Day, observed around the world to raise awareness of the Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) as well as the dangers posed by other sexually transmitted diseases.

Since 1987, AIDS has killed over 25 million people. As of 2007, over 33 million live people live with it worldwide, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in recorded history. For this reason, countless organisations take part in the observance of World AIDS Day to place the highest emphasis on sexual health to prevent the spread of the virus, and raise funds for research into treatments.

The Guild and LGBTQ Association will be marking the day with the Mermaid Fountain draped in a red sash, and suspiciously spewing forth dyed red water. There will also be the red double-decker bus on which Guild and LGBTQ volunteers will be handing out information, collecting for AIDs and sexual health charities.

• 12-2: Guild Car Park
• 2-4: Campus (library)
• 4-7: Halls of Residence

The LGBTQ have been kindly sponsored by Crusaid and the Terence Higgins Trust; two very prominent organisations in the field of sexual health and HIV. They’ve kindly provided posters

Also, the LGBTQ’s film night was moved from Sunday 29th to tonight at 6PM to coincide with World AIDs Day. We will be showing Philidelphia, a film that illustrates the controversy that many with AIDS have faced:

“When a man with AIDS is fired by a conservative law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.”

The Westboro Baptist Church is a particularly bad example of a conservative, homophobic organisation that gives faith and organised religion a very bad name (indoctrinating children into their hateful regime, no less).

However, while this is the experience of many LGBTQ people – a huge contributing factor to the number of athiests in the community – it’s certainly not the experience of all. More importantly, there is a huge difference between faith and organised religion; faith in a particular ideal is obviously more liberal than adherence to a value system established by the latter. Many LGBTQ people follow a particular faith – be it through their own interpretation of faith, or through the more enlightened organised religious groups within christianity/mormonism/etc who do not exclude on the basis of sexuality. These enlightened groups have been given a bad name by their conservative, homophobic counterparts in other religious organisations and they should not be treated as one and the same.

That being said, even in a welcoming and enlightened religious organisation it’s still very difficult for people to come out to others in such a community because of this stigma. It’s something we should work to avoid given the opportunity.

As I mentioned in my recent catch-up post, the Chaplaincy here at the University is very progressive, very friendly and myself and the LGBTQ have established a good working relationship with the Methodist Chaplain, Kara Cooper, in particular. Kara and the Chaplaincy staff acknowledge that LGBTQ people have suffered in the name of religious doctrine and are dedicated to changing this. Kara has also recently become a regular at many of our events (even providing a projector that actually works for GC chambers) and through our various discussions we’ve put together an event for this week.

The LGBTQ Association and the Chaplaincy will be running a faith and sexuality event tomorrow, Monday 30th November, at 6PM in the Chaplaincy’s Oasis lounge. It’s an opportunity for a group discussion with the chaplains, myself, a few committee members and other LGBTQ to discuss their experiences and perspectives. If anyone wants to come along please do; a free meal will be provided. Afterwards we’ll all mooch over to the pub for a quick drink. All in all definitely worth coming along to.

To put things in context…

I’m going to start by being fiendishly self-centred and talking about me.

I’m from a working class background. I left home at 19 while in my second year of college; my living costs was funded purely by working 35 hour weeks, and eventually contract work alongside my studies before coming to Uni in 2006 – the year the £3,000 tuition fees were introduced. The Student Loans Company refused to consider me a self-sufficient student and took my mother’s income into account. I was fortunate; her financial situation entitled me to the maximum tuition fee and maintenace loans, supplementary grant, and I was also entitled to the Birmingham Scholarship and Grant based on my entry grades.

I might add that in 2007 – a year after the new fees were introduced, the SLC doubled the interest rates from 2.4% to 4.8%. When I graduate this June, I will have accumulated over £25,000 of debt.

I have a 15-year-old sister who hopes to study at University in a few years time. University would give her a chance to explore her potential and develop the knowledge and skills that she can bring back to society in her future career, and she certainly deserves that chance. She’s currently living with my father who is in a much better financial situation, and she probably won’t get the entitlement I got. She may not be able to go to University altogether.

I have gay friends who were disowned by their homophobic families and struggle to survive – while studying at college – with aspirations of University. If the top-up fees double they probably won’t be able to go to University.

It’s a dangerous precident

The very idea of raising tuition fees promotes the incredibly conservative notion that there is a direct correlation between intellectual potential and socio-economic background (The Daily Hate Mail tried to illustrate it as such in one of their “articles” earlier this year).

If our government allows fees to go up then it brings our nation’s higher education system back by at least a century, where only the elite, rich, straight, white students could go to University, as I seriously doubt that the SLC will support £7K yearly tuition fee loans.

More importantly, it’s been five years since the £3K tuition fees were introduced; how exactly has the quality of higher education improved in that time?

So what can be done about it?

• Fabian, and presidents from Student Unions/Guilds across the country have signed a petition protesting the Labour and Tory parties hiding behind this review.
• Edd started a small, active student group that I and three other LGBTQ members have joined.
• I’ve contacted my brother and a few friends in the Liberal Democrats; as the one party that has always decried top-up fees, they are truly our greatest ally. Ideally a massive national student boycott of all Labour and the Tories by voting LibDem or Green would at help balance things out.
• Nick Petrie and I are putting together a mini-site to keep track of the “tell David” campaign, the progress of the review and reactions across the country. It won’t just be for students; obviously we want to appeal to local people whose children will be barred from higher education by increasing the fees.
• More to come soon…

What’s standing in our way?

Something that has caused me to repeatedly banging my head against a wall is the fact that activist students are so involved; so passionate that they find the concept of an apathetic student hard to believe. In fact, they underestimate just how far apathy extends. The more the Guild tries to engage these students, the further they are pushed away. Trust me, I’ve lived with more than a few of them. However, like me, some of them have younger relatives and friends with University aspirations; and we can appeal to them on that basis. to get involved even to a basic level.

The same can be said for the seemingly built-in attitude of local residents that students are lazy, intrusive scum who take up space. However, I reminded myself of Brigid’s blog post about University places. People were angry their kids wouldn’t be going to University; we can appeal to those people on that basis.

More to come on this as it develops!

Also, check out the FlashMob coverage from RedBrick, Guardian, Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post.

Today, 11th November, marks the 80th Remembrance Day which commemorates the sacrifices made in war; notably both World wars.

Remembrance day holds a special significance to LGBTQ people everywhere. The freedom to even fight for equality would not have been possible had it not been for the sacrifices made in past wars; especially given the persecution that gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people suffered under the Nazi regime during WW2.

The University and Guild held the respectful two-minute silence in keeping with tradition to remember those who fought for the freedoms we enjoy. From where I was standing by the Aston Webb building, I was amazed to see just how many people stopped where they were, what they were doing to take part. I would like to thank everyone – LGBTQ students or otherwise – who participated.

The SHOUT Festival starts today with a launch party in the Gale this evening.

Sadly I myself have a huge load of paperwork to clear today – both for my course and the LGBTQ – so I won’t be attending. Sad times. If anyone wants to come and give me a sympathetic hug, please do.

I’d recommend the launch party to all LGBTQ students looking for something to do this evening. SHOUT has been months in planning and the Birmingham LGBT Trust has put a great deal of work into it’s development; hence this launch party looks to be pretty awesome. And if you go, be sure to do a little extra partying for me

Also, anyone that requested discount tickets to see “The Fear of Queer” and hasn’t handed in their money yet, please contact Brooke as soon as possible – Sunday at the latest.

The University’s Counselling and Guidance Service are trialled “Q-chat” yesterdar morning, right before the coffee afternoon. A big thank you to all those that volunteered to help out.

The Counselling service at 3 Elm Road places a great deal of emphasis on supporting LGBTQ students and recognising the issues that they face. They also operate a “coming out, moving on” group workshop aimed at LGBTQ students; whether or not they have recently come out.

Q-chat is intended to be an online chatroom designed for LGBTQ students who would like to attend a group counselling/discussion session, but would prefer to remain anomynous. It’s completely open, completely moderated (to prevent abuse) and I believe it has the potential to vastly improve the welfare support our students receive, and even help people who are reluctant to come out take that big step and accept themselves openly.

This site contains information about our events, campaigns, the services and support we provide to our members, and our work with other Universities and organisations for the benefit of LGBTQ students.

We frequently blog on this page about what’s going on and what we’re up to so check regularly! We welcome any comments/suggestions you may have towards improving the association; either by commenting on posts or pages, or by contacting us directly.

Matt Ward
LGBTQ Officer, Guild of Students

Happy National Coming Out Day to all lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or otherwise students at Birmingham! 11th October has been a celebration of open homosexuality, bisexuality, transexuality since 1988, and recognises the difficulty that many experience in coming out to our friends and family.

Coming out under those circumstances requires a tremendous amount of courage; take a moment today to recognise and take pride in that

The Blood Van Visit

The blood van was in the Guild car park almost all day collecting blood based on prebooked appointments. See Fabian’s interview with Nick Petrie for his perspective on the actual visit and the donation process.

Our Campaign, and it’s purpose

Rob and I (pictured above) ran the “Give Blood Because We Can’t” in the form of a stall across from the van between 12PM and 3PM. The purpose of this was to:

1. Encourage all people who were able to give blood.
   Obviously this was impossible with the blood van being fully booked, but we handed out contact cards for them to arrange an appointment at their nearest donation centre.
2. Raise awareness about the lifetime ban on gay/bisexual men giving blood, current NBS policy and the unbiased facts in support of the NUS campaign.
3. Collect signatures on an petition to have the policy changed to assess viability based on individual behaviour, not that of a group.
4. Ensure that the Guild was well-represented with the blood van. If the Guild and LGBTQ show that they can be professional, supportive and friendly in the face of such a policy, it may sollicit support from within the NBS and create a precedent for change.

We also gave copies of the sticky posters and petition sheets to our fellow committee members at the societies fair, who distributed them to helpful and supportive people. I’d particularly like to thank RockSoc, MetalSoc, the Christian Society, the Chaplaincy for their help with this.

We were also visited by Nick and two of his lovely editors from Redbrick, who have compiled an article on the visit and our campaign.

Overall…

The campaign was a huge success. We had in excess of 270 signatures, encouraged people to give blood if and when possible, and the NHS staff at the blood van were very appreciative. Particular credit has to go to Rob Unwin for the amount of work he put into this campaign, but I’d also like to thank Kai Weston and Johnny Davis for helping make this possible.

Coffee Afternoon

Wednesday marked the LGBTQ Association’s first event – a coffee afternoon in the LGBTQ room.

Incidentally, I don’t have any photos of the event; the idea was for people to socialise in a safe space. Taking photos is kinda subjective

The turnout has a pretty good turnout and a laid a solid foundation for the societies fair and the barcrawl. One or two even joined Kai and Ashleys’ door-knocking crew.

The Societies Fair

The annual societies fair on Thursday and Friday of welcome week was well-attended by most of the LGBTQ committee, who were greeting members and non-members alike with good attitudes and a load of freebies.

Copies of our welcome week booklet were distributed to new and returning members, as well as information on our events and tickets to the barcrawl that same evening. Fairly standard but it did raise awareness.

Door-knocking, flyering and the coffee/befriending afternoon certainly did set up a solid foundation for membership, seeing as we sold in excess of 90 tickets to the barcrawl. The typical turnout for the freshers’ barcrawl in previous years is around the 60 mark at best – great success

Welcome Week Barcrawl

The LGBTQ Welcome Week Barcrawl covered Joes (the Guild), Angels, Route 2, The Fox and finally the Gale (at which point, our stewarding duties were done ).

The feedback we’ve had from members thus far has been good; they all seemed to enjoy themselves, as did we, the committee. The Freshers have had a good introduction to the Birmingham gay scene, and the whole thing went without incident. Personally, we (the committee) loved it; we really had a chance to mingle with the Freshers and show them they had an association that cared

I’m hoping to get some concrete feedback from members who may be interested in “Gay Thursdays”; regular unofficial barcrawls to the gay village. More on that over the next week after the commitee has next met.

While working on the ’slogan’ picture for the new LGBTQ booklet, I needed to grab a few pictures from the net, and discovered something interesting.

Click the picture to see the search

Search for “kissing” on Google Images. The majority of results on the first page are overwhelmingly homosexual in nature. Five years ago it would have – if anything – been lesbians only in some majorly male-chauvanistic context. I’m impressed; it’s an indication that progress has been made in seeing homosexuality and bisexuality becoming more widely accepted.

Good times!

Myself, Rob and Kai covered Prichatts House on Monday, with Sarah and Elaine covering Oakley Court.  Not one out LGBTQ student was in when we door-knocked; in fact, it turns out that the Freshers’ fair drew most people – LGBTQ or not – to the Guild.

Tuesday saw Ashcroft and Jarrett covered by myself, Sarah and Rob; Sarah and Elaine dropped leaflets around the Hub in Shackleton in time for dinner on the Vale.

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Ashley and Kai’s intrepid crew of members old and new covered Tennis Courts and flyered the rest of the Vale late on Wednesday afternoon.  There were more LGBTQ students about on this run, who are now interested in the committee and LGBTQ support offered by the Guild and Uni.  Great success.

The University’s Housing and Accommodation Services have seen fit to propose piloting an ‘LGBT house’ scheme. Before anyone points out that I forgot the ‘Q’…I’m quoting them The aim of this scheme is to allow LGBTQ students to live with housemates of the same sexuality.

When I first heard about it I thought it was an interesting idea. It stands to reason that LGBTQ students would find the idea appealing; potentially it alleviates concerns of homophobia, biphobia or transphobia that a student may have when looking at University Accommodation. On that basis alone I think it’s a good idea as a supplementary option; and it’s certainly fesable now that the Guild’s new Student Housing Advice Centre is in full swing. I spoke with Ed Sparkes, Vice-President Housing and Community about this last week and we agreed on a lot of key issues.

Thinking about this in-depth…how are people ever going to learn to overcome biggotry if we segregate yet another minority like this? Our University is supposed to provide an atmosphere of equality and diversity. If we segregate people into groups like this then diversity is instantly compromised.

In my first year I lived on the lower-ground floor of Hampton Wing; an all-male floor. I was the only non-heterosexual resident (that I knew of) and when my flatmates were all aware that I was bisexual. Most of them had never had out LGBTQ friends, didn’t quite understand the concept of bisexuality and one or two were a bit funny about the whole idea. By the end of our first year we were all close friends and we still are. I lived with three of them through my second and third years until their degrees had finished. I like to think that living with them helped rid them of homophobia and biphobia, and me of any heterophobia. Arguably conducive to eliminating biggotry and encouraging diversity and equality among our students.

OK, I’ll admit I was lucky in who I ended up with. I’ve had friends who were beaten up by homophobic flatmates and had to be relocated. Had I ended up in a similar situation I’d happily take part in an LGBTQ housing scheme. That being said; would a group of gay men situated on the Vale be any safer if they were all put together in a known “gay flat”?

Lastly…the classic housemate woes. The last thing we want is students making the misguided assumption that, just because they have something as personal as sexuality in common with their housemates/flatmates, that they’ll automatically get along. I know people who picked their housemates exclusively from LGBTQ association members and still endured an unpleasant year. Sexuality is hardly a governing factor when it comes to getting along with those you share with.

Overall, I’ve picked out a few pros and a few conns. However with all of the conns in mind, I don’t see a problem with piloting this scheme purely as a supplementary option mainly for students who have encountered homophobic bullying in halls or student houses. Provided that we make the students well aware of the conns and don’t discourage the tried-and-true method of student housemate hunting, this scheme may have potential.

There’ll be more on this as it develops! Questions, suggestions, comments all welcome and wanted!