Blog
Officer Report 21/5/09 :)
Hi all!
Here's a rundown of what we've been up to since we were elected:
1) We started by putting the finishing touches to the long-awaited website. This promises to make LGBT infomation, events and welfare support more accessible to everyone. Now it is easy to get information about what’s going on in and around uni, and find out how to contact us without the worry of outing yourself on a Facebook group, by owning ‘the gay leaflet’ or by being on a mailing list. It also make it easy to get quick updates on events and the wider LGBT community, as well as detailed information about the committee with agendas, minutes and officer e-mails, which is convenient for everyone!
2) At the beginning of term we held a very successful Icebreaker event that attracted a lot of new faces as well as bringing old ones back together. Icebreakers are a great and easy way to get involved with LGBT at York and meet new people, so think about coming along to one if you’re interested in getting to know us. We hold them at the beginning of every term! Also on the social side we’ve got “My Big Fat Gay Wedding” coming up, in association with LGBT Social and Vanbrugh. It's a campus club event with a wedding theme and a camp, gaudy twist - a fun and lively way to explore partnership and marriage laws in the UK and beyond!
3) We’ve also been busy organising speakers. We promised to tackle trans and faith issues, and we’ve started doing this by with our timetable of talks, discussions and lively lectures! Peterson Toscano talked about his experiences as a gay Christian, providing a humorous yet touching insight into the world of ‘ex-gay’ therapy and his own personal fight to reconcile his faith with his sexual orientation. He also delivered a short snippet from his play “Transfigurations” in which he explored gender variant figures from the Bible. We also have a fascinating speaker lined up, who will talk about his work teaching trans people to sing and the changing FTM voice. We're also organising a discussion with the Women’s Officers and university chaplains about gender roles in the Bible and wider Christian teachings. Hopefully, we’ve tracked down a gay rabbi who might be able to come to speak to us later in the term!
4) We’ve prepared three motions for the first UGM of our term; “Toilets for All”, “Recognising Students’ Preferred Names” and “Improve Data Capture and Gender Options”. These largely focus on important trans provision and if passed will be an important step towards greater trans inclusion. This is all part of our move to work with the Union and university: mandating ourselves and future officers to improve understanding of trans people’s needs and hopefully combat discrimination through this increased understanding. Hopefully by bringing some of these simple issues, that should already be policy, up at the UGM we can begin to raise awareness of what needs to be done!
5) We’ve started preparations to improve our constitution, thinking about which roles on the committee are and aren't needed and what needs to be added or changed. We’re hoping to define our remit more clearly and widely, explicitly welcoming and supporting anyone who wants or needs to talk about sexual orientation or gender identity.
6) Our big project this term is going to be organising next term, particularly the first few weeks. We’re talking to the GSA about getting events on their Welcome Week planner and a pitch at their Graduate Fayre and trying to get everything finalised so that we can get lots of information out in Freshers’ and Returning Students’ packs.
