I too would like to discuss the events of last week. It was great to see so many differing faces at both the evening with Rikki Beadle-Blair and the Big LGBTQ Debate. The feedback i’ve had has been great, and it was really refreshing to finally not shy away from overtly political topics and be able to sit down, discuss, suggest, interrogate and actually communicate face to face.

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.