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.

Online, whether it is gaming on Xbox live with your friends or on any of the hundreds of image boards, the online world is full of homophobia.

There seems to be a three way split currently between most people, there are 3 categories:

• The Hardcore Gamers – These people usually fit the stereotype of a ‘gamer’ people who spend more time online than outside. This doesn’t always make them bad people however the effect of spending more time with their TV/Computer than with friends often affects not only their social skills but quite often their physical and mental health. I myself often I fit into this category, I spend a average of 6 Hours on the internet on my computer daily and on one of my games I have spent nearly 9 days of online play since I brought it. This category is normally reserved for men, however in my time online I have met a couple girls who are hardcore gamers too. Traditional examples of ‘hardcore’ games include FPS (First person shooter) MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game).
• The Casual Gamers – These people are probably the most hated group by the non-gamers and the hardcore gamers for a few reasons. The hardcore gamers believe that casual gaming is reserved for the ‘weak’ people who are not very good at gaming and buy games not for their game play but for their ‘fun’. The non-gamers usually put both of these gamers into the same lump of ‘anyone who plays a game’ as people who are wasting brain cells and their own time. The casual gamers see hardcore gamers as people who get obsessed by games whilst the non-gamers are people who are afraid of technology and killjoys. Examples of these types of casual games are getting more common with the introduction of handheld consoles (Nintendo 3Ds) and the most controversial console, the Wii.
• The Non-Gamers – These are people that believe that gaming is a waste of time and brain cells. They believe that there are too many other things to be doing than wasting time online/playing games. Sometimes these people have been gamers and had bad experiences of online play and given up on it and sometimes they are scared of new technology or believe that it really does kill brain cells and social skills.

There are of course games that transcend multiple categories of gamers, for example, racing games are both played by the casual and hardcore gamers as are adventure games and RPGs (Role Playing Games).

Now what does this have to do with homophobia?

Homophobia is deeply rooted in online games and the internet. A simple visit to any of the internet’s image boards and you will discover the huge amount of homophobia that is all over the internet. Behind the veil of the internet people let their true feelings show. This unfortunately shows us how much work is still left to change people’s views on homosexual behaviour.

The Gaymer Survey, conducted at the University of Illinois and involving over 10,000 respondents, found that gay gamers experienced a high level of homophobic attitudes and language.

Eighty-eight per cent of respondents said that they had heard the phrase “that’s so gay”, while 84 per cent said that the word ‘gay’ had been used in a derogatory way.

Over half of the respondents felt that gays were stereotyped, 52 per cent found gaming worlds to be hostile to gay and lesbian gamers and 42 per cent felt that gays were under-represented.

Only a minority of participants (nine per cent) claimed that they had never encountered anti-gay remarks.

This has been noticed by the gaming manufacturers and they are working towards equality in gaming, for example the Sims, a game where you control people’s lives has been a leader in promoting gay rights, and is always the first to allow the player to make homosexual relationships. Xbox Live is now forcing its game manufacturers to keep in line with its new equality rules.

Fable 3, due to come out soon will allow you to impregnate your friends in co-op mode on Xbox live. But with fable history of being able to have homosexual relationships the chance of adopting being integrated in the game is a definite possibility.

The online world and the gaming community is a big part of society but is mostly completely ignored by government unless a game is too controversial, for example ‘No Russian’ Scene in modern warfare 2 and all of the GTA games. This means that the manufacturers have nearly all of the control of how progressive the games are.

Unfairness can be seen in Mass effect 2 where you can have a lesbian relationship but not a gay male one. This sparked controversy among many ‘gaymers’ the girls and straight males were delighted whilst the gay men were a little bit more miffed at the developers of ME2.

There is a brilliant way to catch up on gay game news, via podcast

We have no real power as gamers to force companies to change their ways, the American gamers vastly outnumber the British gamers and the deep root of homophobia created by most of these Americans will always make online play hard for out gay people. All the power we have is our buying power, by not buying homophobic games and complaining to the moderators online we can slowly get rid of homophobic behaviour.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

Overall, gay films aren’t very good. There are a lot of cliché storylines (coming out, HIV/AIDs, hustlers, et al). Still, these 10 are all excellent movies and perfect for a film night. Here are my top 10 picks for best gay men’s films:

>	10. Mysterious Skin This is a hard movie to watch. It tackles a subject most of us would rather avoid. It goes places few films have the courage to delve into. The subject is paedophile. Two young boys are molested by their baseball coach but have wildly different reactions to the experience. One embraces being gay and actively seeks out older men, while the other has blacked out the experience and believes he was abducted by space aliens. Sounds strange, but it’s a great film that balances humour with great sadness.
	9. Brother to Brother One of the most disappointing aspects of gay movies is the lack of films focusing on black men. What few there have been, haven’t been very good. Finally, there’s a great film all about being black and gay. This film focuses on the Harlem Renaissance, as a modern-day student comes face to face with history. It switches back and forth between the past and present. We get to see the lives of some of the great gay writers of that era. For that reason alone, it belongs on this list. Add to it that it’s a very original film that will entertain as much as inform and you have a classic gay film.
	8. Victim This 1961 film dealt with homosexuality in a much more honest light that most films, and had an impact on society. By showing how gay men were being blackmailed, it helped change the British laws that made homosexual acts illegal.
	7. Wonder Boys This is a quirky film of misfits all dealing with the inequities of life. Michael Douglas shines in this film as a middle-age professor who has never been able to duplicate his success in publishing a first novel. He’s got problems with his wife and his girlfriend. Not to mention his editor and his drag queen boyfriend. The story keeps surprising the viewer and you’re almost sorry when it ends.
	6. A Love to Hide (Un Amour A’taire) I thought all the Nazi Germany films about gays were going to be about lesbians. Finally, one about gay men. In this tale a gay man tries to save the family business by day while he keeps his male lover secret at night. How long will it take the Nazis to discover the relationship and ship the men off to a concentration camp? And will the woman who is in love with the gay man be the one to turn him in? Or will it be someone else?
	5. Lilies If you watch the trailer for this one, you’re likely to be perplexed about it. A confessional where the roof comes off to show a balloon? I hear you ask: “Lilies, isn’t that a lesbian film?” No, it’s not. It’s the story of two young men in love in early part of the 1900s. But that’s the play. We meet one of those young men many years later when he’s in prison and giving his confession. It takes a second to adjust to how this story is presented, because it’s very original. It has excellent cinematography, a shocking story and hot boys. What more can any gay movie fan want?
	4. Another Gay Movie – Gays Gone Wild A treuly all gay movie, this is a no holds barred joke about the sterotypical antics of 4 gay men who go on holiday to fort lauderdale. There is lots of fake sex, gay jokes and if you don’t enjoy the movie you can always look the the obvious and no so obvious advertising. Why not turn it into a drinking game? While a lot of people still fight that this is a awful movie I believe it is awful but still brilliant.
	3. Brokeback Mountain Now that the hype is gone we can evaluate this landmark film based on what’s on the screen, not the impact it had on the mainstream. It still ranks very high and will no doubt be on this list for a long time. It’s a beautiful film and a tremendous love story. Why isn’t it higher? I like subjects that are bigger, and outside of the displays of homophobia and life inside the closet, this film just doesn’t have it. But, it did contribute to a fantastic year in gay films and earned more conversation than any gay film in history. So it doesn’t need me to rank it higher.
	2. American Beauty This movie was an easy winner for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Kevin Spacey plays a middle-age man having a bit of a crisis in his life. His wife is ignoring him, he’s been fired from his job and he’s suddenly experiencing erotic thoughts toward his daughter’s teen-age friend. Not to mention the crazy neighbors, including a gay couple (the only normal people on the street). The gay angle is not obvious for most of the film, but when it hits it is a major turning point. It was written by Alan Ball, who is gay and remains one of the most original films ever.
	1. Shelter Who could not fall in love with shelter? This brilliant film is about two surfers, one still exploring his sexuality and the other openly gay. It is a lovely and touching story of fighting through prejudice to be together. It also has a strong focus on family and the effects of coming out has on a person who relies on you.

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.

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

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

It may have come to the attention of many of you that BBC news online recently proposed a controversial topic on it’s ‘Have your say’ forum asking the question “Should Homosexuals face execution?“, the question was described in the subheading as a “stark and disturbing question” and can be read in full here.

The “revised” title.

When the existence of the “debate” was brought to my attention by a friend, the original title was that mentioned above, within a few minutes of reading the article the title had been changed by the BBC to the more diplomatic “Should Uganda debate execution?”. Since the debate has been posted it has caused much media attention and the BBC has defended its position quite shamelessly. It therefore strikes me as odd that they would have the desire to change the title of the forum (after it had closed I might add) to something less controversial, that is if they didn’t think they had any reason to be ashamed.

After thinking long and hard I wrote a complaint to the BBC, which read as follows;

Since then I received a message in response to my complaint linking me to the following excuse;

I believe my point still stands, even if they have thought long and hard about it, they made an error in debating this question, especially as one of their key values is to “respect each other and celebrate our diversity so that everyone can give their best.” It appears the BBC is making the excuse that the question is made with respect to African culture since “Homosexuality is regarded as taboo in much of Africa, where it is often regarded as a threat to cultural, religious and social values.” However I can’t help but think that if the BBC was to ask the question “Was the Rwandan genocide completely wrong” and justify it as being asked with respect to the Hutu dominated government and their power ideology, there would be hell to pay!

My argument is that just because a question is made from a different viewpoint it doesn’t make it any less offensive, it is true that morality is relative according to one’s perspective, however, if we view it more empirically (logically if you will) there is no justification in needlessly killing or punishing people for a victimless crime. Hence whilst we must respect all cultures we must understand that some are less justifiable in their reasoning. I believe this issue is relevant to British politics since many of the homophobic laws in countries around the world are the direct result of British colonialism and its religious/victorian values.

To conclude I believe that the BBC was wrong in posting this article and tried to avoid criticism in a spineless, pathetic way by changing the title of the page after the debate was closed and by hiding behing the notion of moral relativism when it should be well known the majority of its readers are from a western perspective.

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.

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)

This Friday is the 11th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), an event which is held on the November 20th each year and is observed in places throughout the world. TDoR was set up in November 1998 following the death of Rita Hester, which also led to the Remembering our Dead project; a project which lists the names of trans people killed as a consequence of discrimination.

The guiding principles of the Day of Remembrance:
• “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” (Santayana)

• All who die due to anti-transgender violence are to be remembered.

• It is up to us to remember these people, as their killers, law enforcement, and the media often seek to erase their existence.

• Transgender lives are affirmed to have value.

•We can make a difference: by being visible and speaking out about anti-transgender violence, we can effect change.

The University of Birmingham LGBTQ association will be marking this event with a candlelit vigil in Mermaid square (outside the Guild of Students) on Friday at 6.30pm. If you wish to assist in the reading of names, or want to contribute to the event with other readings/ poety etc. please don’t hesitate to get in contact. In the event of poor weather the vigil will be moved inside, however, we suggest to all members to bring warm clothing in the event of cold weather.

TDoR website.

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.

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.

Hope you’re looking forward to coming/coming back to the University of Birmingham. We are the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer (LGBTQ) association and we aim to represent, support, empower and hopefully entertain self identifying LGBTQ students.

We’ve got a fair amount going on during welcome week! Firstly, we’re going to be holding a Befriending Coffee meeting in the LGBTQ room in the Guild, where you can come and chat to some of the committee in a friendly and relaxed setting.

We’re also going to be running a stall at the Societies fair on Thursday and Friday, which is an excellent place to find out what awesome societies exist at the University of Birmingham, not least the LGBTQ! Come and sign up for our mailing list, steal some freebies off us, or just come for a quick chat!

Another thing you can do at either of the aforementioned events is buy tickets for our awesome FRESHERS BARCRAWL! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138352653587#/event.php?eid=156703530361 Thursday nights are by far the best nights for LGBTQ students, as all the major clubs in the Gay Village do drinks offers to suit the student budget. Tickets are going to be £5 and will include entry to Nightingale’s Club and transport into town, and you can’t say fairer than that, really.

Sadly for us committee-folk, it’ll be back to the doldrums the Friday morning after while you’re still enjoying your hangovers. On Thursday and Friday we will be doing a light bit of campaigning on the National Blood Service’s ban on Gay and Bisexual Men giving blood. We’ll send out more concrete details of what we’re doing nearer the time, but we would be very grateful if any politically minded LGBTQ people could lend us a hand if we need it.

On Monday the 28th we’re going to be part of the inter-university “Women’s Night” to Chic’s “Little Miss Mondays”, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138352653587#/group.php?gid=39472641310&ref=ts which is shaping up to be a great night whether or not you’re a fresher. We’re also going to be starting up our film nights on the Sunday Night at the end of that week, which are a good opportunity for everybody to get together, watch a film, and talk/discuss/argue/war over it.

If you’ve skipped to the bottom of this long message because I’m rambling, I don’t blame you. All the details of these events should be on the facebook group, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138352653587#/group.php?gid=36482000208&ref=ts fan page, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138352653587#/pages/University-of-Birmingham-LGBTQ/62445989949?ref=ts or website www.lgbtq.co.uk

We hope to see you at as many of these events as possible,
LGBTQ Committee

The annual LGBTQ Welcome Week Bar Crawl (or fresher’s barcrawl as most people call it) is one of the most notorious nights on our calendar and certainly not to be missed.

Take a break from your Fresher’s Fest events (if it clashes – sell your ticket… guaranteed profit) to come and make friends as your LGBTQ committee manically tries to introduce everyone to everyone else (so don’t worry about coming on your own) before introducing you to Birmingham’s famous gay village.

We’ll head into town from 8pm onwards and whilst we obviously encourage responsible drinking, it’s usually a case of ‘last one standing’… because you’ll obviously be all too exhausted from the dancing to stand anymore…

Birmingham’s gay village has quite a few venues, so we’ll only realistically be able to go to a few on the barcrawl -but don’t worry over the first few weeks of term, we’ll try and introduce you to them all. For this first barcrawl, we’ll be hitting the Angels, Route 2, the Fox and the Nightingale club. Keep your eyes peeled on the calendar for upcoming events where we’ll hit the other venues…

TICKET INFO:
Whilst we like to keep all as many as our events free as possible, we will be selling tickets for this event at a measly £5. Ticket price is to cover entrance into Nightingales who charge an entry fee on Thursdays, and also your travel into town. (Bargain.)

If this doesn’t sound like your thing… not to worry. We put on a wide range of events so there’ll be something for everyone.

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.

Nature and gay rights

Tue Jul 07 09:45AM

The Tories may have accepted civil partnerships, but there are signs they still see homosexuality as unnatural.

By Ian Dunt

This weekend, Labour and the Tories went to war on gay rights. It was a pretty interesting debate, all things considered. Labour desperately tried to figure out why gay voters would vote Tory after everything the government had done for them (the answer, of course, is that voters vote for the future, not the past). Meanwhile, David Cameron professed how sorry he was for Section 28, which banned the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools, despite having voted to retain it as late as 2003.

But Cameron’s Section 28 vote is not as relevant as his decision, as Tory leader, to try and restrict access for lesbian couples hoping to conceive children through in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

The IVF vote is pivotal to understanding the true level of change in the Conservative mindset. As a deft political operator, Cameron would never suggest Section 28 should return, or a ban on civil partnerships. Both items are far off the political agenda, and would leave him destroyed in the eyes of the public. But the IVF vote dramatises his response to the gay rights issues on the horizon. The opposition to gay marriage (rather than partnerships) and gay parenting stems from the same place as the historical opposition to legalising gay sex, or securing legal equivalence.

The opposition to opening up access to IVF for lesbians came from an idea of what is ‘natural’. The argument is that the natural way for a child to be raised is by a man and a woman. The problem with the argument does not follow from its logical reasoning, which is non-existent, but from its intellectual foundations.

The word ‘natural’ has no place whatsoever in political discourse, outside of – arguably – the debate on climate change. There is no such thing as natural human behaviour. There are things it is possible for a human to do, like breathing or dancing, and things humans cannot do, like flying. Whatever is possible is by definition natural, because we are natural beings, produced by the planet earth. There are good and bad human behaviours. Killing old women is bad. Helping old women across the road is good. But neither is unnatural. Whatever a human decides to do is natural, because he is a natural being.

The use of the word natural in discussion surrounding human behaviour is almost always an attempt to exclude minority behaviour from the realms of acceptability. And so IVF treatment for lesbians is branded unnatural, because they are physically incapable of producing the child themselves. It is nothing of the sort. Natural beings are working towards a goal which was previously impossible via the use of technology. It is no more unnatural than early man building a bridge so he can move from one place to another faster. The world had forced him to wander farther to reach a spot across a river, so he used the tools available to him to overcome that handicap. In actual fact, the use of tools to overcome the limitations set on us by our environment constitutes one of the earliest known behaviours of mankind. You could even say there’s nothing more natural than lesbians seeking IVF treatment, except that wouldn’t have any more meaning than its opposite.

Occasionally the arguments about how unnatural this process is centre on the social effects of gay parenting. Critics usually cite the increased volatility of gay relationships, and claim that prevents them from being suitable parents. There is sometimes another argument about balancing male/female role models on the child, although this is so weak as to not be worth mentioning.

The first argument has been categorically falsified by several scientific studies. The American Psychological Association (APA) 2004 resolution on sexual orientation and marriage, for instance, concluded after exhaustive research that same-sex couples are entirely equivalent to heterosexual couples on standardised measures of relationship quality, commitment, stability and satisfaction.

Some sense intuitively that there’s something wrong with two women, or two men, becoming parents. They do so out of a sense that it hasn’t been done before (it has of course, but not in a transparent, conscious way). But something’s absence in our past is no indication whatsoever of its suitability for our future. Empirical data does a better job than intuition on societal suitability, and the empirical data suggests there are no problems whatsoever.

Nevertheless, either because of his own convictions, or in an attempt to not upset the party rank-and-file, Cameron is clearly uncomfortable with the practise. What does this mean? Labour statements that gays would “rue the day” they voted Tory are feeble. A Conservative government will not reintroduce Section 28, or scrap civil partnerships. But it will not push ahead the issues in the way Labour did.

This country has undergone a sea-change in its attitude to homosexuality in the last decade. Tony Blair didn’t create that change – it’s an innate characteristic of British society to be utterly uninterested in what people get up to behind their front door. But he realised it, harnessed it and got some real results.

The decision to introduce civil partnerships was extremely wise. It avoided a confrontation with religious groups – as far as possible, anyway – while securing the all-important practical rights for gay couples. It put real-life problems such as inheritance and pension benefits above the ideological considerations which could have created a backlash strong enough to scupper progress. But now the political space is open for another big push, with the creation of gay marriage. This shouldn’t involve forcing churches to conduct ceremonies for gay couples. We just have to repeal the clause on the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, which specified, for the first time, that marriage had to be between a man and a woman (the Marriage Act 1949 didn’t specify sex).

The political opposition will be negligible. Some religious groups will make noise, of course, but it doesn’t involve them – the issue is about civil marriage. And besides which, the nation will not be behind them.

The change needs to come because of distinctions. Referring to gay friends today, we are forced to find odd new words for them, describing them as ‘his civil partner’, instead of ‘his husband’. That sounds trivial and flippant, given the seismic shift required of traditionalists if they are to accept this sort of change. It isn’t. Language, and our way of referring to the things around us, hugely informs the way we think. It forms part of our day-to-day consciousness and it embeds itself in our attitudes. The battle for gay rights – which has arguably progressed further in this country than any other in the world – won’t be complete until gay relationships are indistinguishable from heterosexual relationships. That’s the end goal. Anything less than that is unacceptable.

That requires gay marriage. It requires a government responsible enough to ensure no new legal threats to gay parenting are allowed to emerge. It requires the enforced teaching of homosexuality in sex education classes to be objective, unlike the caveats offered to faith schools by Labour.

Cameron’s vote on IVF treatment is a sign he shares that inner sentiment about what is natural – a sure sign that he will be less than energetic in his championing of the gay agenda once in office. The Tories won’t be the ones to finish the job. That is a great shame for those in the UK who want full equality. But it’s an even greater shame for this country’s reputation. We will be losing out on an opportunity to show the world what Britain values: reason and freedom.

From http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/talking_politics/article/45677/

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

www.equalsurvey.co.uk

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.

Your LGBTQ Association welcomes all new and returning students.

We’re very excited that Welcome Week is finally here! In honour of the occasion we have included a lovely picture of a lady with ‘open arms’. This is obviously very important and symbolic and represents the friendly, accepting nature of your LGBTQ Association etc etc. We would analyse it further but it may get complicated, but we’re sure you’ll agree that she is quite lovely and does not look like a tit at all.

This week we’ll be making our way around halls to try and introduce ourselves to as many of you as possible. If anyone should have any problems with flatmates regarding homophobia (though that is very very very very rare – so don’t get scared) please let us know so we can help you out.

As well as visiting halls we’ll be at the ‘Change Your World’ and ‘Societies’ Fairs on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of this week, which are in the Deb Hall and Welcome Week Marquee, both in the Guild of Students.

University’s a great, and common, time to come out but if any of you are worried, nervous or simply a bit shy then take advantage of our ‘Befriending Scheme’ and come and meet a couple of us, privately and confidentially, for a chat so you know a few faces before coming to an event. Just email us to arrange a time and a place.

Speaking of events… this Thursday we have our MEGA barcrawl and on Saturday we have our Meet ‘N’ Greet, so check the Events page for more details and make sure you don’t miss out. If the barcrawl clashes with a Fresher’s Fest or Postgrad event, sell your ticket and come with us instead. It’ll blatantly be much better.

Finally, don’t forget to join our Facebook group and mailing list. The Facebook group link is on the right of this page and you can sign up to the confidential mailing list by emailing us or signing up at one of the fairs or events. We take confidentialiality very seriously and can guarantee the safety of your details not being handed out.

We look forward to meeting you all soon and wish everyone a great Welcome Week ‘08.

Sunday October 5th, 7.30pm, Thompson Training Suite, Guild of Students

Every Sunday night at 7.30pm in the Guild of Student’s ‘Thompson Training Suite’ we host our popular LGBTQ Film Group. Each week we show a different LGBTQ related film projected onto a big screen. The film group is open to everyone who wants to come along, with a regular turn out of around 40 students. Like 99% of our events admission is free. It’s a great event for newcomers to meet some people in a relaxed and friendly environment and it’s also pretty damn good for anyone who loves film. We show a varied selection of movies that you won’t necessarily of heard of, from mainstream Hollywood to foreign arthouse. Past films have included Mulholland Drive, Mysterious Skin, Shortbus, Monster, The Watermelon Woman, Boys Don’t Cry, Y Tu Mama Tambien, La Mala Education and many many others. This year Film night will Start on Sunday 5th October.

After much deliberation and a few trips to A & E we finally decided that the first film to show would be ‘Party Monster’. It was a tough call… we didn’t want the first film to be too controversial, too fabulous, too disturbing, too intellectual etc etc so what better than Macaulay Culkin in a dress?!

Out.com have unveiled their list of the ‘100 gayest records of all time’, presumably because they have nothing better to do? BUt anyway, appearances from Abba, Cher, The Smiths and Madonna (several times) come as no shock but some of the choices really will surprise you. David Bowie tops the chart with his album ‘Ziggy Stardust…’. After reading their analysis it seems that i really should be paying more attention to lyrics, with some surprising groups seeming to show hidden agendas, and no, i don’t mean the Scissor Sisters.

In fact i’m surprised as to how many of the albums I own; Le Tigre (pictured), Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Bjork, The Beatles, Anthony and the Johnsons, The Magnetic Fields (69 Love Songs… if you don’t own it, go and buy it now) Lou Reed, and countless others. Go check out the full list and analysis now on the following link…

http://www.out.com/detail.asp?id=24081

How many do you own? Have they missed any?

“Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said that the Church has an ‘obsession’ with sexuality when it should be focusing on issues such as poverty.

He told the BBC’s Robert Pigott that he is ashamed of homophobia within the Church.”

Check out the interview at the link below…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7602535.stm

Guy’s got a point.

Come and meet your LGBTQ Committee and other LGBTQ students

Saturday, September 27th, 3pm-7pm

Beorma Bar, Guild of Students

There’s never anything to do during the day in Fresher’s Week, especially on the first weekend. So, being the opportunists that we are, it seemed like a good idea to have a slightly ‘calmer’ event than the barcrawl. But don’t worry; we’re not expecting you to get up early…

So a few weeks ago at NUS LGBT Conference in Nottingham we won an award at their NUS LGBT Awards Night and finally thought it was about time we posted some photos  of the momentous occasion. FYI, it was the NUS LGBT Awards and The University of Birmingham was awarded the coveted ‘Campaign of the Year Award’ for Emma O Dwyer’s excellant ‘Homophobia in Halls’ intiative. Have a look at the pics…

Your ‘gorgeous’ committee… completely sober.

The lovely, and “obviously very expensive”, award.

Now let’s celebrate! (aka – drink)

You know what? Let’s just have a little lie down…

Lovely.

  ]]> http://www.lgbtq.co.uk/gay-birmingham-remembered-exhibition/feed/ 0 http://www.lgbtq.co.uk/political-apathy-and-complacency/ http://www.lgbtq.co.uk/political-apathy-and-complacency/#comments Thu, 01 May 2008 19:30:00 +0000 HJP http://guildlgbtq.wordpress.com/?p=85 So today is the vote. Countless times I have raised the question ‘have you voted?’ (or any other grammatical form using whatever tense of said question) to my peers and associates. And on countless occassions I have received the response ‘what vote?’ (or some other form of monosyllabic interrogation indicating nonchalence) and, [conference], I am shocked and appalled. Just, what’s with it? After explaining, or, in the situations in which my conversee knew of said vote, the most used response was yet another indication of apathy – ‘oh I don’t care’, or ‘oh that’s not gonna affect me’; ‘oh i can’t be bothered’ or just a neanderthal grunt.

Ok, so I know the government as it currently stands is at best shoddy, and…. well, don’t get me started on at worst. But that is not the point. I also know we live in a democracy, and yes one could even argue ‘oh what difference is one more cross going to make’. But democracy is more than the individual action, surely? It’s the embodiment of a concept. A concept which needs the individual within the group, seguramente?  And finally, the majority of these people I spoke with today were women. Now I hate more than more singling out someone on account of their sex/gender but women come on. Less than 100 years ago the sufferagettes were giving up their lives for us to exercise our democratic right and belong, as an individual, to the body of power and influence. How would they feel to hear of the modern female student who can’t be arsed to walk 10 minutes down the road to mark a cross on a piece of paper??

Well, I could ramble and continue my procrastination, but I feel the above text has sufficed both in distration and venting. So I’ll put the question to you: should we vote? is it any more important for one individual to vote over another? should students be more politically involved? and how can one successfully make that happen?

That’s all folks.

I do love watching televised comeuppance and it doesn’t get much better than Boris getting called on his patchy record supporting the LGBTQ community. Boris had previously stated that in principle gay marriage was the same as three men marrying a dog and has continously berated what he claimed was ‘Labour’s appalling agenda, encouraging the teaching of homosexuality in schools, and all the rest of it.’ Lovely. Which is why it amuses me no end to see him taken to task over his poor record of supporting LGBTQ rights at the recent Stonewall hustings for the Mayor of London election.

Enjoy.

Back to the rant, Skins for example (which if wanna argue about how crap that has been, see my previous note.. http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=15033404275) did something relatively simple but not often carried out in it’s selection of characters. It threw together a bunch of teens with varied interests and of different backgrounds and managed to remember to throw a gay and an ethnic minority or two in there as well.. Much more realistic to life, well as far as you can call living in Bristol ‘life’ anyway. But apart from Cassie’s random lesbian moment (“Tell Sid I’ve discovered the power of the pussy..”) no genuine attempt was made to even have a minor gay female character. Poor show Channel 4. For a channel that only appeals to youth, Northerners and gays, they are not playing to their target audience. Just hurry up and get Sugar Rush Series 3.

But bringing up Sugar Rush I suppose makes and obvious point. That’s an entire show about a lesbian girl, does this completely invalidate my bedtime rant? Well, er no. Because although it’s great to have a show that is based around the spec: ‘well there’s this girl, and she’s gay, and she loves her straight best friend’ cue opening credits, in terms of casual characters on shows passing as ‘normal’ (bear with me here..) as in that the character is not there BECAUSE of their sexuality is needed for the storyline, lesbians are sadly lacking.

Feel free to argue with me, but I can count the number of lesbian recurring characters on major shows on one hand, but I need a tally chart for the gay boys.

Forwarded message from Ben Summerskill, chief executive, Stonewall

The Bill now has to go to the House of Commons (because it started its parliamentary passage in the Lords). Without a doubt, we’ll face the same bogus arguments against equality that we’ve seen during the last few weeks. There will be further attempts to wreck it.

Equality in family life is every bit as important as equality at work or at school. We’ll continue to work tirelessly to secure this historic step forward.

Thank you for your ongoing support for equality.

 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!