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.

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!<

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q-Chat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Muchos thanks!
Matt

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.