The LGBTQ Association exists because the Guild of Students and the University of Birmingham want to know what we think.  The best way to discover exactly what we DO want – in education, on campus, in halls, in society, in employment, in support and in many other ways – is if we democratically organise ourselves and elect LGBTQ students to be our representatives.

We are lucky because the Guild of Students respects our autonomy.  That means that we are a collective of LGBTQ students who are trusted to make our own minds up about what we want.  The only people who can speak on behalf of LGBTQ people are LGBTQ people themselves. Noone is allowed to vote for our Committee or Convenor unless they ’self-define’ as a member of the Association.

Self-defintion means that every individual has the right to participate in our Association if they, on their own, decide that they are either lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or queer.  No test or questions or doubt is allowed; we don’t believe that any obstacle should be put into our members way.  There are enough obstacles for LGBTQ people already.

The way that we make sure that we properly represent LGBTQ students is through democracy.  Every year we have an Annual General Meeting which elects our Committee and our Convenor.  More details on them can be found on the ‘Who we are’ page of this website.

At our meetings, we welcome any and every LGBTQ student; our diversity and activism are our key strengths.  We tell people what we’ve been doing for them – in organising campaigns to make our lives fairer and in organising activities for LGBTQ students to meet one another – and we ask members for their opinions.  This is our accountability to you.

We also hold elections. We elect people based upon what they say they can bring to our movement for equality.  Our Committee meet regularly to plan and review this work.  Every LGBTQ students is welcome to stand in election for our Committee, or as our Convenor, and even if they don’t, they can still attend any event or meeting and participate in our activities.