Stonewall recently published their own version of the ‘Good University Guide’. It is a guide for how ‘gay-friendly’ each university around the UK is and is based upon ten areas ranging from staff training and support to events for students. Stonewall also write a review of each university and LGBT association (assuming there is one) and the University of Birmingham and our (not so) humble LGBTQ did rather well. So well in fact that we became the first ever university to get 10/10 from Stonewall – just for being us. So yes, the Times may only put our amazing university in 20th place, but Stonewall have placed us in our rightful position – at the top! So be proud! We are officially the best!

The proof.

Gay Africans are facing increased persecution in a continent where two thirds of countries retain laws against homosexuals. Sorious Samura investigates what it’s like to be gay in Africa.

Dispatches produce another great documentry, definately worth watching!

The LGBTQ Association is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Historically, the male response to the feminism has fallen into three main categories: the patriarchal masculist, the profeminist, and the antifeminist – all of which have been around for quite a while.

The patriarchal masculist view is that which supports a patriarchal society in the opinion that it works and is fair. These masculists will argue that men should go out to work to be the breadwinners so that their partners can live easier lives at home. It is their view that women are liberated enough by being free to visit friends and spend time with children. They believe that the feminist movement is harmful for the stability of the nuclear family and detrimental to the position of man in society.  I found a website which describes the ideologies of patriarchal masculism named ‘Why feminism is a farce’. I would describe it as… interesting – but I do expect a forehead vein or two to pop.

It is worth noting that progressive masculism is distinctly different from patriarchal masculism; progressive masculism is a term used to describe the liberation of men from their stereotypical gender roles and does not necessarily conflict with feminism.

The antifeminist is not necessary against female liberation, but may question the methods used by feminists to achieve liberation, believe that the movement can not achieve liberation, that female liberation is already achieved, or that female liberation has gone too far and men are now the oppressed.  It is somewhat a vague term and hence leads to seemingly oxymoronic ‘antifeminist profeminists’ who strive to further the liberation of women but do not agree with the methods commonly utilised to accomplish equality – for example a topic often up for debate between feminists and antifeminists  is the use of positive discrimination with the intention of reaching gender equality.

The profeminist has existed for a long time. Several male Greek philosophers and playwrights would suggest that a perfect society would be one where everybody had equal opportunity regardless of gender. As society has historically repressed the voices of women, the vast majority of early feminists were actually men. There were unfortunately too few and unheard to change how the world worked. More men began to realise that equality between the sexes was necessary during the abolitionist movement against the slave trade. Women were forbidden from attending one particular World Anti-Slavery Convention in London; many abolitionists refused to vote, stating it was hypocritical that men and women were to be separated in the same way that the whites and blacks were being separated. The patriarchal masculists argued that it was unfair to subject women to ‘dirty’ topics normally designated to men for discussion. A profeminist, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, responded:

“I do not see how any woman can avoid a thrill of indignation when she first opens her eyes to the fact that it is really contempt, not reverence, that has so long kept her sex from an equal share of legal, political, and educational rights…[a woman needs equal rights] not because she is man’s better half, but because she is his other half. She needs them, not as an angel, but as a fraction of humanity.”

As the feminist movement really kicked off during the 19^th and 20^th century, more and more men began to get involved. Men also began to realise that their women were not the only victims of a patriarchal society; in the 1970s, the men’s liberation movement began which attempted to break down gender roles in society and disband patriarchy in the same fashion as the feminism movement. Many of these organisations were seen as patriarchal masculist but several worked hand-in-hand with feminists to change our society and bring about true equality.

Nowadays most men will probably agree with feminists when it comes to having the same voting rights, that the streets should be safe for women, etc. However many men will still shout demeaning comments at women on the street. There are men out there who still objectify women. There is still a split when it comes down to the more radical feminism, or more specifically the tackling and reforming of our patriarchal society. I personally believe society needs to change – I for one am tired of seeing the old white men in charge. I don’t think men need to be selfless to be feminists either – my personal belief is that it comes down to it, men’s and women’s liberation (and most other forms of liberation including LGBT, disabled, black, etc.) are in essence one and the same: the fight for equality and for people to be recognised as just that: a person.

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.

Why is it so important that LGBTQ celebrities are out and proud in the public eye? In our celebrity-obbsessed culture, the actions of one individual can be hugely influential. It sends out the message that it is normal to be lesbian/bi/gay/trans or queer and that you can still be successful, popular and happy whatever your sexuality or gender status. It also challenges the standard hetronormativity of the media, particularily sterotypes about LGBTQ people. It shows that being LGBTQ is not an exclusive definition of someone’s personality and most importantly, most out LGBTQ celebrities go on to campaign for equality.

However, unfortunately, many LGBTQ stars are held to old-fashioned and rigid double standards. For example, their is the ridiculous and outdated belief that gay men can’t play straight roles, despite the number of straight actors who play gay roles. Their is also the presumption that they are living a sordid lifestyle, as epitomised by Jane Moir’s offensive column on Stephen Gately’s death.  A Bisexual identity may be denied or ignored due to a long term relationship with a person of the opposite sex. LGBTQ celebrities are often pushed into sterotypes, which impacts upon their individualism and therefore the influence of their voice. The medias predominant interest in allowing white, hetrosexual, wealthy men to speak also means that when the boundaries of hetronormativity are pushed, those who are allowed to speak the most are…white, homosexual, wealthy men. Although their visibility can help us as a whole, their is still a great deal more diversity needed in LGBTQ celebrities.

With many celebrities coming out and celebrating their queer-ness recently, The New Yorks Times claims that it’s no big deal. However, many celebrities fear it will diminsh their fanbase and hurt their career. Some are advised not to come out by their managers or are seen as hetrosexual ’sex symbols’ and therefore fear that they can only get work when they are percieved in this way. In our tabloid-based, celebrity romance obsessed society, the impact of coming out upon past tabloid romances can harm both parties. Therefore, it is often harder for celebrities to come out than it appears and some feel that is has harmed their career (however, how this can be blamed on being open about your sexuality and not on your acting or film choices remains to be seen!).

In my view, being in a public role carries a responsibility to set an example. In the words of Harvey Milk: ‘I hope that every professional gay will say ‘enough’, come forward and tell everybody, wear a sign, let the world know.’

Last weekend was Birmingham Pride , I’m sure that many of you were there and had an incredible time. This year the parade was back on properly after its change last year, and Coalition had another ‘Pride is a Protest’ walking float which was a great success with loads of people marching from various different universities around the Midlands- UoB, Aston, Birmingham City, Derby, Coventry, Warwick and Newman (sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone). This year was my first Birmingham Pride, and I’ve never been to a Pride so big before, and I had a lot of fun. But I find it questionable whether fun should be the main aim of Pride. If you look in the a variety of gay magazines, Pride is much more often called such things as ‘pink party time’ than ‘pink politics time’. In an entire 13 page ‘Pride Guide’ there is not one mention of the politics behind the party, the main need for us to have Pride at all.

Our Fight For the Right to Party banner

As we have gained more rights as a community, our freedom has undoubtedly, by many, come to be taken for granted. Surely Pride is a perfect time for the community to come together, and as well as being glad for how far we have come, thinking about and shouting about when we don’t have and what so many others around the world also lack. I am not claiming that I am some kind of martyr for the cause, but simply someone who wants to see change, and, next year, will do her back to try and see it come to fruition.

The theme for this year was, it has to be said, a significant improvement on last year’s ‘Pink and Green’. ‘Equality through the Decades’ could have been historical, informative, political, and radical. It could have been so much more, but all it really was manifested itself as were a few loosely themed floats in the parade. After all, why does Pride need to have a theme, per-se? Surely gay rights are the theme of pride, and whether or not they have been achieved. When every LGBTQ person in the world has the same rights as every straight person, then we can have themes that celebrate this change.

The men hired by Seflridges last year to participate in London Pride

Pride has become a corporate sponsored, capitalist, money making opportunity. This cannot be doubted. A big party is, of course, a great deal of fun, but for a community (for that is what we are) who used to pride itself on its incredible voice, its power to change society, we have lost our drive. It would of course take immense amounts of effort, of time, to change pride even partially back to the way it was, but why do so many doubt the possibility? Thirty years ago, Harvey Milk stood up at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade and inspired a message of hope to the tens of thousands of people there. This year, Lady Gaga stood up and did exactly the same thing (Although it has to be said, her public speaking doesn’t really compare), to over 1.2 million listeners. If we really did had reached equality and could warrant a completely commercialised Pride, then this wouldn’t even have been necessary, and despite her popularity, so many people would not have turned out, they would have cared more about the alcohol than the atrocities.

Maybe Gaga is a little high to aim for Birmingham Pride, given that this year we bagged The Cheeky Girls, but why not, in the future, do what we do best? Fight back, protest, and have a bloody good time while we’re at it. Just give it a decade and I can but hope.

Time: 15:00 – 17:00

Location: Underground, University of Birmingham Guild of Students

This Wednesday at the LGBTQ Society of the University of Birmingham will be hosting a emergency planning meeting for Birmingham pride 2010.

We are holding the meeting in the Underground (Club) of Birmingham University’s Guild of Students. The best way to get there is by train, you can get the train to Birmingham New Street and then from there get a train to ‘University’ Station. There will be members of the University of Birmingham LGBTQ sociaty to meet you from University Station between 2.30 and 3.00pm. Any problems, please feel free to call or text Emma Coopers (Officer-Elect) on: +447502404009

If you can’t make the meeting but would like to be involved in the future, please join our mailing list by simply emailing coalitionlgbt@googlemail.com with ‘mailing list’ as the subject.

Event Facebook Link

For those who are new to the organisation, Coalition Midlands LGBT is an organisation set up to combine the efforts and resources of LGBT and Q student groups from the Midlands and beyond. Whether it be for organising club nights or campaigns, performances or sports tournaments, with Coalition we can achieve more, together.

This group welcomes all LGBTQ students and friends from both the Midlands and from further afield, so thank you for joining our group and please invite anyone else who think would be interested in getting involved.

NEWS

Coalition Midlands LGBT won the NUS LGBT Award for Event of the Year for our programme of events for LGBT History Month. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who was involved in organising that. We showed what is possible when LGBT students unite and work together.

UPDATES

• Committee structure:
  As Coalition is now bigger than ever with participation from up to 11 universities and more universities and colleges getting involved on the horizon, this year’s organisers have been discussing creating a formal elected committee structure. We will be discussing proposals for how this might work at our meeting on Wednesday so please come along and give your input.

• Facebook admins and officers:
  Some of you who were on the list of officers and admins may have noticed that you are no longer on it. Please do not feel offended or that we are trying to exclude anyone. Coalition is temporarily (until Wednesday) being run by some of the group of activists who were the organisers this year. After we have democratically decided on Wednesday how the organisation will be run in the future, those elected representatives will become the admins and officers on the group.

• EMERGENCY PLANNING MEETING:
  Coalition are holding an Emergency Planning Meeting for what we are planning to at Birmingham Pride this year. We are lucky enough to have our very own marquee this year which is very exciting. Come along to the meeting to help us plan what we will get up to over Pride weekend. The meeting is open to all LGBTQ students, both HE and FE and anyone else who wants to be involved from the Midlands and beyond. Please bring any ideas that you have to discuss, it’s your Pride and your Coalition so come along and get involved.

• Mailing List:
  To join the Coalition Midlands LGBT mailing list and be kept up to date with meetings and events then simply email coalitionlgbt@googlemail.com with ‘mailing list’ as the subject.

righttoparty.lgbtq.co.uk

To read our motion submitted to NUS LGBT Conference see below:

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.

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!

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.

Ticket prices are the same at £6.00 in person and £6.00 plus a 40p booking fee online. There is a DEADLINE for buying your tickets which is by the 5th March. After this date, tickets will still be on sale, but we cannot guarantee your t-shirt or travel. So buy now so that you get the full HIG Experience…

As before, we will be starting the night in Joes Bar in the University of Birmingham at 6.45pm. We will travel by coach to Hurst St to two awesome bars where we have free shots and Happy Hour. We will then move to Chic, where drinks will be just a pound, to party into the early hours. Profits from the night will go towards funding campaigns against discrimination to LGBTQ students. All are welcome to the event, remember: You don’t have to be a bender to come on one…

*To buy*
- For University of Birmingham Students, Tickets will be on sale in Joes Monday – Friday between 12-2pm except on Wednesdays where they will be sold in Coffee Afternoons. They are also sold at all our events.

- For Warwick Students, you need to get in contact with Katie. k.mann@warwick.ac.uk

- For Coventry Students, speak to Tom Fisher. lcars47a@hotmail.co.uk
-ONLINE Email your name, email address and the number of tickets you require to CRO783@BHAM.AC.UK

If you have already purchased your ticket, then don’t worry. Your ticket is still valid for the new date. But please contact cro783@bham.ac.uk to confirm that you can still attend. If you are unable to attend then email (same address) and we will organise your refund.

Apologies again for the change of date. But it looks to be better than we had ever planned for. Be there or be heteronormative.
We’ll see you very soon,
Emma Xx
(On Behalf of the UoB LGBTQ Association)

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.

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.

Many of you may have noticed a facebook campaign recently more relevant than usual to the LGBTQ. ‘Un-Ban Dominic Scaia’ was a campaign set up because he uploaded photos onto facebook of his recent top surgery and was banned for this.

Obviously, it is not unfair for facebook to remove photographs that are considered pornography, i.e. topless women. However, they do not go around taking photos on men’s chests off the internet and banning those members; we live in a society where it is perfectly acceptable for men to be topless, which is fair enough. As a site used every day by millions of people, facebook have a right to respect people’s differences, to respect their decisions and their feelings, and not to marginalise the minorities they have within their users. Many of the people using the site, who are trans, will have had similar surgeries, and to feel as if by uploading photos afterwards they are doing something wrong, will only serve to break down self esteem and marginalise another minority even more.

What, I feel, makes it even worse, is that when his account was disabled, Dominic contacted facebook to ask why, and if it was to do with the post-op pictures, to complain. No one got back to him. So even if there had been other reasons that he had been blocked from facebook, he wouldn’t have known them, and would have been kept in the dark until the time came when he was finally unblocked. And let’s face it, the images that can so easily be stumbled upon on facebook, and especially upon the internet in general, are significantly worse than anyone, bigoted as they may be, can describe these as.

Thankfully, Dominic’s account has now been unblocked, he has been apologized to about the incident, and facebook have changed their policy regarding allowing post-op chest photographs. But that does not stop the fact that it happened in the first place. Many people think of social networking sites as a platform for speech, sharing of lives. If this was allowed to happen once, what is to say that it will not happen again, to another group, for another, equally unjustified reason? Maybe not just this policy, but many others used by facebook, need to be examined to see just how fair and justified they really are.

I have met many people recently who have been of the opinion that as a community we have nothing left to fight for. In this country we have legal equality and civil partnerships and, usually, the ability to be who we are all of the time. But it is small incidents like this, as well as large, shocking incidents such as the beating and murder of Ian Baynham in Trafalgar Square last year, that should help to push home to people who say this, that even in a Western, democratic society, yes, there is still a lot of injustice to be fought.

The campaign group can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=240719433565&ref=ts

An article including the photo which got him banned can be found here: http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Facebook_reevaluates_decision_to_censor_trans_mans_postop_chest_pics-8127.aspx

However, there are unique issues with regards to sexual health in the LGBTQ community, and a number of services aimed at dealing with this :

1. There is very little information available for women who sleep with women with regards to safe sex practices. Lesbian sex is often regarded as a low risk activity, yet according to Stonewall, less than half of gay and bisexual women have been screened for STIs, and women who sleep with women are at high risk of STIs such as Herpes. This perception of low risk activity combined with the more general problem of lesbian and bisexual women’s invisibility means that sexual health in this area is all too often overlooked. The NHS has an online guide on lesbian and bisexual women’s sexual health issues which can be found here There is also a guide by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation which can be found here
2. The Trans population faces particular problems when it comes to accessing sexual health services and trans specific sexual health information. Personal issues relating to body image often make sexual health clinics very intimidating and intrusive; for those who have received treatment, or gender recognition this may be combined with the issue of disclosure. Other issues include sex specific clinics not necessarily being equipped to deal with trans individuals. These issues clearly make access to testing difficult for many trans people, and whilst progress is being made in this area, it remains problematic. The Terrance Higgins Trust is currently in the process of delivering trans specific sexual health training to its staff, and Gendered Intelligence are in the process of producing a sexual health guide for trans people. The only booklet currently available which I’m aware of is aimed at queer trans men: queertransmen.org
3. Men who sleep with men have far more resources available to them than either of the above, in some respects this makes accessing services and information easier. The importance of accessing this information is nonetheless important and available resources include Healthy Gay Life (Birmingham based) and Young gay men (Terrance Higgins Trust) Note: see THT’s main website for more relevant links.Once again, there are specific issues relating to men who sleep with men, notably HIV has had a disproportionate impact on the community in the past and although at this point in time the rate of new infections amongst heterosexuals is higher than that in the gay/bi male community, the issue remains relevant, and this trend can only be maintained if individuals continue to take responsibility for their own sexual health. The idea that HIV is a “gay disease” still causes issues to this day, for example attitudes within the medical establishment have been heavily influenced by this, which in turn can impact on patients.

This blog can only go into so much depth on these issues, but the importance of sexual health and protecting yourself cannot be understated. If you are sexually active, regardless of your sexuality or gender identity, it is important to make sure you are keeping yourself safe and getting tested regularly.

If you find yourself in a situation where you may have been exposed to HIV it is vital to get yourself to A&E or a GUM clinic within 72 hours (preferably 24 hours) in order to receive PEP treatment. This is a month long course of treatment (not a morning after pill) which can give an 85% reduction in the risk of HIV taking hold in the body. More information on PEP and a self assessment for risk factors can be found here: PEP microsite

As I’m sure many of you will know, last Friday was Transgender Day of Remembrance (see below) and the LGBTQ association held a candle lit vigil that evening. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who turned up including both LGBTQ people and straight allies. I’d like to give particular thanks to Rev Kara Cooper from the Chaplaincy, who following the reading of the names and the one minute silence gave an eloquent non-denominational prayer.

The issue of violence against trans people is still a very real problem both within our own society and in many places across the world, and given the small percentage of the overall population who are trans, the numbers effected by this are still far too high. TDoR acts as a way for the trans community and those allied to it to address this issue in a reflective manner, allowing for both healing and renewed strength in the battle against discrimination. The people listed within TDoR services only represent a part of the picture, for we will never truly know how many there are, nor shall we know all of their names; but it is important to remember that alongside these losses there are also many who have survived this type of transphobia, and continue to fight against it.

Transphobia, like any kind of discrimination, presents itself in many forms, and the consequences of it may not always be directly apparent. In its most apparent form we open abuse, but this does not address more subtle issues such as social exclusion and societal attitudes, factors which explain why statistics state that 34% of trans people have considered suicide (Samaritans). Violence can also take on more passive forms; many both on and off the list died not on the streets, but in their homes and in hospitals, refusal of medical treatment based upon trans status is far from unknown, even in the Western world.

It is for these reasons that Transgender Day of Remembrance exists; for so long as the situation remains at it is currently, it becomes imperative to ensure that these injustices are not overlooked. The candle lights during the vigil are meant to represent the lives of trans people; in many services the candles are snuffed out one by one with each reading of the names, but throughout the vigil we chose instead to keep relighting the candles blown out by the wind; and at the end of the service some of us sat around and allowed as many of the candles as possible to blow out naturally. The most important thing to be taken away from this is not the sorrow brought about by the deaths we were there to remember, but the renewed hope for a better future.

Transgender Health (NHS)

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.

WHO, WHAT, WHY?

The Magazine answers…

A lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men from giving blood is under review, following calls from campaigners that the policy is unfair and misplaced. So which groups are prevented from donating on grounds of sexual behaviour?

The public is often being urged to give blood, to help those that need it, but the adverts are not directed at those deemed too high-risk to donate.

Blood services expect a shortfall in supply this winter

People are banned from giving blood for a variety of health reasons such as having had a blood transfusion after 1980 or having a family member with CJD. But rules which govern giving blood simply because of who you have sex with are not universally accepted by those who are banned.

A man is prevented from giving blood if he has ever had sex with another man, even if that happened decades ago and he has recently tested negative for sexually transmitted diseases like HIV.

A woman who once worked as a prostitute is also banned for life from donating, while anyone who has had sex with anyone who has been sexually active in parts of the world with high HIV rates, like sub-Saharan Africa, cannot donate for 12 months.

A review is under way to look again at these rules. The government’s advisory committee on the safety of blood, tissues and organs (SaBTO) is holding a public consultation meeting in London as part of that process.

According to those rules, the following groups are among those that have a lifetime ban on giving blood:

• any man who has had sex with another man, even safe sex using a condom
• anyone who has ever worked as a prostitute
• anyone who has injected themselves with drugs – even once
• anyone who has ever had syphilis, human T-lymphotropic virus, hepatitis B or C

Potential donors are also banned for 12 months after having had sex with:

• a man who has had sex with another man (if you’re a female)
• a prostitute
• anyone who has ever injected themselves with drugs
• anyone with haemophilia or a related blood clotting disorder, who has received clotting factor concentrates
• anyone of any race who has been sexually active in parts of the world where Aids/HIV is very common

And there are shorter term restrictions on people who have visited malarial areas.

The National Blood Service for England and North Wales says it has to exclude groups known to present a particularly high risk of blood-borne viruses, to reduce the risk of infected blood entering the blood supply.

Although all blood is screened, a small number of infected donations may be missed because there is a period of time between getting the infection and the test showing a positive result, its guidelines say.

Condoms reduce the risk of infection but don’t eliminate it, they say, and men who have sex with men account for 63% of HIV diagnoses where the infection was likely to have been acquired in the UK. The risk of HIV-infected blood entering the blood supply would increase five-fold if the ban was lifted.

WHO, WHAT, WHY?

A regular part of the BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer some of the questions behind the headlines

But gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell says a government that opposes homophobic discrimination cannot possibly uphold the ban.

“It is based on the stererotyped, irrational, bigoted and unscientific assumption that any man who has had oral or anal sex with another man – even just once 40 years ago with a condom – is high risk for HIV. This is nonsense.

“The truth is that most gay and bisexual men do not have HIV and will never have HIV. Their blood is safe.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health said the committee would publish its findings in 2010.

Wow so in case you live in a bubble, you probably already know that last night Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party was a guest on BBC’s Question time. Myself and a few others braved the rain to protest outside the BBC in town.

I won’t say much on the program but not unexpectedly he was spouting his usual homophobic and racist b.s. I’d recommend that you all watch it for yourselves which you can do here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nft24/Question_Time_22_10_2009/

If you want to register a complaint to the BBC you can do so here: Complain to the BBC by phoning 03700 100 222 or online at http://bit.ly/bbccomplaints[1]

To get involved in the anti-fascist campaign check out:

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/index.php/content/home/suit
www.uaf.org.uk/

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.

At first I grant you, LGBTQ Treasurer, Guild Councillor, Student Rep, Independent Chair, any society position in fact,sound boring and uninspiring. However take the plunge and you won’t look back. I’ve found myself hauling an armchair across campus for none other than Eddie Izzard himself, having dinner with the man who had the first gay kiss on British television, in a sit down meeting with the Bullring’s manager and Birmingham’s chief of police explaining how we would like to march 400 placarded members of the public up to their famous Bull, having the confidence to challenge and change the mind of a BNP voter on his door step, shaking the Prime Ministers hand at the first ever Downing Street LGBT reception whilst taking care of my friend who was told by Gordon she had clearly enjoyed his wine too much, knocked hundreds of flat doors looking for the LGBTQ freshers we welcome to Birmingham each year, finding again and again the most welcoming, unassuming and LGBTQ friendly straight colleagues as volunteers and staff at the Guild of Students and not to mention …taking a dump in the Vice Chancellors home. In his toilet, not on his door step I might add.

There are too many great memories to mention, political and non-political, the social and the outrageous, these are just the things I have chosen to do. I have no doubt I will leave University wishing I’d tried out student radio, football, theatre, fund raising and so so so much more. There is an endless supply of opportunity knocking at your door.

If you give a little you will get it back ten fold in friends, experience, memories and personal growth. When I was a fresher I was shy as anything, I would not say boo to a goose, I didn’t make any real friends till my second term where I finally plucked up the courage to talk to people. Two years later, people who know me will confirm, I love the sound of my own voice, I am an over opinionated gobby sod and I love it. Volunteering gave me the chance to try new skills, it challenged me to approach new people, speak publicly and advocate for the things that I wanted; whether that was telling the Uni big bods that the opening of a Starbucks on campus was symptomatic of Birmingham’s elitism or on the phone begging the Gale for cut price group tickets for pound a pint night. Soon enough faking the confidence I needed to meet these challenges turned into real confidence; something that has benefited my academic, work and personal life and will continue to.

The vast majority of your academic work at university will be done on your own, providing little experience of working with others with different personalities and abilities, this is poor preparation for the workplace. Volunteering and working creatively and administratively with all different kinds of people will challenge your tolerance levels and get you actively thinking about how you motivate yourself and others around you. These are hard won but invaluable skills. However, it is this working with other people that has led me to find my most amazing and valued friends. There’s nothing like tearing each others hair out but equally celebrating your mutual success of getting a fresher’s bar crawl to come together for a bit of group bonding.

So contrary to the popular Grange Hill hit of our youth, just say yes to any opportunity that sparks your interest, try something new! You won’t regret it, if you do I’ll eat my hat and buy you a Starbucks. Volunteering is addictive, but you’ll only be the better for it. Whatever you choose to get involved in in your time at university do not hold back for fear of homophobia, the few idiots I have met have been vastly out weighed by the constant flow of surprisingly open and welcoming students at Birmingham. Go for it.

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.

30

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!

For those of you that haven’t heard yet, there is currently a whole lot of drama going on in supermarkets up and down the country. The film ‘Lesbian Vampire Killers’ has been released onto DVD and is now on sale in various retailers. But here’s the interesting bit: many of these stores have ordered the DVDs with the word ‘lesbian’ covered up with a warning sticker.

Well there you go. I’m really glad that Asda and Sainsburys have informed me that my sexuality is an obscenity. And it seems that there is a lot more to this whole lesbian-is-a-swearword thing. Lovely Adam who designed our logo was this very evening attempting to post a little something about LGBT groups on a preuniversity website yougo. He posted the title as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans people but the word ‘lesbian’ has been removed not just in his title but throughout his post!

It’s not the first time I’ve come across this phobia of the word lesbian. I’ve many a self-identifying ‘gay woman’ who detest the word lesbian, which personally just infuriates me. Lesbians identifying into the gay category is the perpetrating the equivalent of how women get lumped into the ‘mankind’ group and therefore have their issues and needs ignored. But my feminist rant is offtopic…

The question is why has it come about that ‘lesbian’ is seen as something controversial and offensive? I ‘d hazard a guess that it has something to that whenever lesbians are mentioned in the media it is in t.a.t.u. sex object line of thinking. So has anyone else come across this blantant ignorance by the mainstream? And check out this FB group for more info on the supermarket scandal. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113806317010&ref=ts

So this film has effectively divided the gay community in half on whether they find it offensive or hilarious. It’s the story about a gay Austrian named Bruno on a mission to be the most famous Austrian superstar since Hitler. His words not mine. On his mission for celebrity he tries his hand at several attention grabbing careers and stunts, my favourite being adopting an African baby before he decides that the key to fame is heterosexuality…

As far as I was concerned, the film was hilarious, particularly Bruno’s trip to the Middle East. But throughout, Sacha Baron Cohen is a just bit of a genius when it comes to pushing people’s buttons to reveal their true attitudes. And what I found even more disturbing than the anal bleaching was the extent of unashamed homophobia that is alive and well today.

But the problem with this, and any of Cohen’s films and shows is the question of who the audience is laughing at. To me, it’s clear that the joke is not on Bruno, but on the people he encounters, not just for actually taking him seriously, but for the complete stupidity obvious in their thoughts, words and actions. However, possibly the majority who see the film will think that the character of Bruno is some sort of true to life stereotype, and that it is acceptable to behave in the way that those in the film did. The film may end up perpetuating the same homophobia and idiocy that it mocks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8131924.stm

Well obviously this is great news. But unfortunately ‘86 member states of the United Nations still criminalise consensual same sex among adults. Among these 7 have legal provisions with the death penalty as punishment. In addition, there are 6 provinces or territorial units which also punish homosexuality with imprisonment.’ (IDAHO)

Check out the wiki map below of gay rights worldwide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_homosexuality_laws.svg

Big thank you and hugs to Adam Stewart for designing it for us. You can see more of his work here:

http://www.adamstewartdesigns.com

Well we have a brand spanking new committee starting work on the next academic year. We’re still in handover mode, but the website will start to be updated over the next few weeks so watch this space.

One of the many rallies across the USA

It’s not been the most widely reported issues in the UK but I’m sure many of you lnow about Prop 8 in California. On Nov 4th on the general election ballot for President in many states there also elections for senators, various local representatives and issues. California narrowly voted Yes on Prop 8 to ban gay marriage. Gay marriage had been legalised by the California Supreme Court just months before and many high profile LGBTQ people had tied the knot, most famoulsy Ellen DeGeneres. There are now a number of legal challenges to the issue. Yep, on the same day America elected its first African-American president, it gave the LGBTQ community a damn good wallop.

a) What happens to the 18k already married?

b) Is it legal for people to vote on a constitutional revision? (This would normally be a decision made by the state legislature and not by public vote)

But maybe what’s more amazing than the bizzarre legal issues (yes I’m a law geek, gonna stop now) is the amazing direct action going on across the USA. Many of these are aimed at Californian Mormons who were some of the biggest fundraisers to ‘protect marriange and the family’. Whoopi Goldberg and Drew Barrymore are among those who have taken to the streets.

Nothing’ll be definite on this situation until early 2009. I know its weird to sort of report this as a pseudo-news article but I find the efforts against this Proposition to be truly inspiring. It shows that direct action is working as the courts are now allowing several appeals funded by the NO campaign.

HIG 3

I’ve made a happy little discovery in my wee world of lgbtq-ness.

Rick and Steve. It’s a show about lego-men. Genius. And, furthermore, gay lego-men.

Rick and Steve

So I’d thought I’d bring such a fab discovery out for more people to see.

E4; Wednesdays; 10:30pm. Or check out 4OD/youtube.

Thursday 2nd October, 8pm Joes Bar, then onto DV8

Oh and you’ll get to meet the famous ‘Sid’ and ‘Twiggy’ too.

We’ll meet in Joes at about 8.00 to neck a few for dutch courage (drink reponsibly etc etc) and then we’ll catch da bus into town. Fresh.

 Mehdi Kazemi is a 19 year-old student from Iran, who came to the UK to study English in 2005. Mehdi is gay, and whilst he was studying in Britain his boyfriend in Iran was hanged for sodomy. Fearing he would suffer the same fate were he to return to that country, he applied for asylum in the UK. However, his application was turned down. He then travelled to the Netherlands, which has a reputation of being more sympathetic to asylum applications from gay Iranians; however, because of EU rules, he can only apply for asylum in the first European country he entered – the UK.

The court in the Netherlands has therefore detemined that he must be deported back to Britain. After some public pressure, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced that Mehdi will have his case reviewed upon his return to the Netherlands, and more than 60 MEPs have signed a petition asking Gordon Brown to reverse the decision. This however, does not gurantee him the right to stay in this country.

Pegah Emambakhsh, 40,  is an Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain in 2005 after her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death by stoning, faces being forcibly returned after losing the latest round in her battle to be granted asylum. Under the Iranian Islamic Punishment Act, lesbians found guilty of sexual relations can be sentenced to 100 lashes. But, for a third offence, the punishment is execution.

Pegah narrowly avoided deportation in August last year but only after her local MP, Richard Caborn, and other parliamentarians persuaded the Government to allow her to stay while further legal avenues of appeal were explored.  But last month the Court of Appeal turned down her application for permission for a full hearing and she now plans for a  judicial review at the High Court. The Home Office has also agreed to consider fresh legal representations on her behalf.

The Home Office accepts that gay people are executed in Iran for their homosexuality but believes that “gay people can return to Iran providing they are discreet.” Even if this were true (which its not), the publicity surrounding both of these cases would most certainly now put thier lives in danger.

The British government should not be afraid to critize the Iranian government in its human rights abuses, not just of LGBTQ people, but of women and others groups.  It is a disgrace for our government to say that they will be safe from persecution and execution so long as they are discreet. It is the same as claiming that Anne Frank was safe from the Nazi’s so long as she hid in her attic.

 Our supposed liberal government should stand up for the rights of LGBTQ people around the world as a matter of principal, and allow those facing persecution a safe haven in this country. There are a number of things as LGBTQ people we can do to help the two cases outlined above, and countless other similar cases.

 Write to your MP asking them to urgently support the campaign-  http://www.theyworkforyou.com/

 Join the facebook group to show your support- http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12378555308

Sign the Downing Street Petition here- http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Stopdeportinggay/

There will be a demonstration defending Mehdi Kazemi’s right to stay in the UK in London on  Saturday March 22nd, 2pm, outside Downing Street. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=24480530632

Year in, year out the same debate goes on about the rights of Jews who are gay and living in Israel? Do they have the right to parade in their capital city?

Weeks before each annual march, there are always protests about their right to exist, to have families, civil union and the right of adoption.

The Pride march or rally directs the eyes of Israel to look to the streets of Mea Shearim as riot unleashes (as they do periodically over any issue that religious Jews disagree with).

The rioters set fire to their own front door steps, their high street and a harsh retaliation by the Israeli Police follows who attack anything that moves, Jew beats Jew in the shadow of fire that lights the dark streets of Mea Shearim – this is no DC comic book – or Nazi Germany – this is the part of Israel’s holy city, where the voice of the local leading Rebbes is followed to the letter!

Tali Farkash, a columnist for YNET may be correct when she states that the majority of residents in Jerusalem are religious. The fact still remains there are Gay Jews living in Jerusalem who are religious.

Farkash should visit any Gay club in Jerusalem and she would soon realise that gay Jerusalem is not just for the secular Jews – but Charedi, modern orthodox and others!

Gay Jews have a right to march and yes, defending the rights of a minority is correct. Farkash should take the focus off whether the gays are a minority, because they are Jews and Israelis living in their homeland where they should be treated as equals. If they are not treated as equals barriers are created!

The constant battles of groups such as United Torah Judaism who neglect to realise one key issue – the general gay population in Israel are Jews, Jews who should be supported by their own people whatever their sexuality.

Religious parts of Jerusalem have rules regarding clothing and these rules are respected; in the same breath respect for other Jewish lifestyles should be accepted – whether they are conventional or traditional – the people are Jews nonetheless.

The past couple of years have been a success for Gay Jews in Israel. November 2006 saw the High Court of Justice ordering the Ministry of Interior to register same-sex couples who were legally married abroad, paving the way for civil unions in Israel as seen in Britain and elsewhere.

The Torah should not be used as an excuse for homophobic attitudes.

The ’sin’ of homosexuality is equal to the sin of breaking Shabat, both issues are addressed in the Torah but when do you see such powerful responses from the religious in Mea Shearim and the wider world about the ‘wider sin’ of the non-religious Shabat observance – a throwing of stones at cars being driven on Shabat can not compare to the cries of yeshiva students “Kill all gay Jews”, the chant that was shouted at the riots of Mea Shearim. When was the last time in London you heard ‘Death to Jewish non-Shabat observers”?

The secular majority in Israel supports freedom of choice for gays Jews. The right wing religious community are a growing minority who do not.

A religious Israel could develop and would need to decide whether its going to match the ideology of an Islamic nation state where religious rules force people to submit to religious law or whether, the Jewish version of a religious state enforces Jewish law but accepts that Jews come with many ideologies and if that is the case – Gay Jews should be respected and treated as part of the family, will full rights.

Jews will need to compromise and co-exist; the issue of homosexuality in Judaism along with a long list of modern day anomalies need to be debated.

It can no longer be the Orthodox versus the secular.

Today, it has to be simply the Jewish people – with differences but united. We should be thankful for the secular and less religious Jews returning home to Israel to simply remain Jewish and be amongst their own people.

We all know that religious and secular Jews live happily together – just look at London, New York, in-fact any Jewish community where Shabbat lifestyles of the religious exist while, Modern Orthodox, Reform etc, along with secular Jews go about their lives.

The non-orthodox will need to accept restrictions in religious districts (as is demonstrated in many neighbourhoods of Israel) and the orthodox will need to accept more liberal laws such as laws governing gay adoption and marriage.

The Welfare Ministry in summer 2007 granted some 30 lesbian couples permission to adopt their partner’s child.

Further developments followed a review by a committee founded by Isaac Herzog that will see gays and singles being able to adopt children in Israel following a routine test that would evaluate the parenting abilities of applicants – regardless of their sexual orientation.

There is a need for the legal framework to be fully set up to aid the growth of Gay Jewry.

The Jewish people are based upon the idea of a nation, a family, the acceptance of Gay Jews needs to start in the home and recent polls held in Israel demonstrate that the acceptance of a Gay Jewish population is being welcomed.

A Ynet-Gesher poll showed that 73% of respondents would accept a gay child with only 27% believing that the “coming out of the closet” would have an impact on their relationships.

The Orthodox community would do well to follow in the footsteps of those of its leaders who want to open doors, not slam them shut.

Judaism is our religion, our race and it belongs to all of us. It is time for equal rights and opportunities for all across the Jewish world.

GAY JEWS ARE JEWISH!

(added on behalf of Simon Williams)

I know Rikki inspired a lot of people so hopefully we’ll see more of you taking an active interest in the future. As for the debate, it was far more subdued than i thought it was going to be, and I actually think some greater disagreements wouldn’t have been a bad thing. Though it was really interesting to see how much we all agreed on, considering that the people in the room supposedly had seriously conflicting political opinions.

However i disagree with the conclusions Gaz speculates that we reached. Whilst it was nice to have a bit of a Tory bash i don’t think there was a general consensus that we’ve achieved loads of great things since 1997 (i think Gaz’z Labour leanings may be putting a rather rosey tint on things).  In fact i think we concluded that there is still a very long way to go and that a number of the things achieved over the past decade actually count for very little and will do nothing in changing attitudes and values of the general public towards the LGBTQ community. I think we decided that in fact the achievements, if any help at all, only help(ed) those looking to assimilate into a no fuss ‘this is ‘equal’ enough for me’ kind of lifestyle.

 I think Emma O’Dwyer’s recent campaign tagline ‘Liberation with no apologies’ is great… so many people, even at the debate seem to think we’re being pedantic in our quest for liberation, that we should be happy with what the heterosexuals have given us and when they give us a new right we should be eternally grateful for the good deed they’ve done… which i obviously find completely laughable

Obviously i’m sure many of us could have debated all night, so i’ll save some thoughts back for the next debate which i hope there will be many more of.

A panel discussion was held in the Rosa Parkes Room at the Guild of Students between

• Mark Gettleson, the Chair of Liberal Democrat Youth and Students
• Ryan Castle, Vice Chair of Birmingham University Conservative Future
• Lucy Brookes of NUS LGBT Committee
• and me, Gary Hughes, Labour Students candidate for NUS LGBT Officer. 

Political LGBTQers all.  We were discussing whether the LGBT community had achieved equality, exactly how we’d know whether we had, how we were going to achieve equality and (the exciting political bit) who we believe to be responsible for all of it.

The most exciting thing for me was the turnout.  Bear in mind that it was a self confessed political event for gays and therefore was unlikely to bring in huge crowds.  To my great and joyful surprise, 32 (that is thirty two.  Three-two) gays of the University of Birmingham rocked out for this event.  Astonishing.

We discussed the fact that its largely undeniable that the Tory government before 1997 had a pretty appalling record on LGBT rights.  Many of the Tory Party’s great and good spent a lot of time and effort trying to install new barriers to equality in fact – like Section 28.  We then agreed that a huge raft of equality legislation has emerged since 1997.  Things like

• civil partnerships
• the abolition of section 28
• adoption rights for LGBT people
• gender recognition
• outlawing of discrimination in goods and services provision
• allowing LGBT people to serve openly in the military
• equalising the age of consent
• outlawed discrimination of LGBT people in the workplace

among other things.  Isn’t the government amazing?   But then, I would say that…

I really hope that we can have more discussions and events like this.  From discussion about whether giving LGBT people adoption rights is equality at all, because it makes us operate like heterosexuals, to whether the LGBT community should work to finish our battles in equalty in law first, or focus on popular perception, the level of discussion was intellectually high and I loved doing it.  LGBTQ people don’t do this sort of thing enough.

A huge congratulations to Emma and the rest of the Committee for making it happen.  Hopefully, I’ll see you next year for the bigger and better sequel!