- National Union of Students LGBT Campaign
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NUS LGBT Campaign Women's Officer Vicki Baars Open Officer Alan Bailey Headquarters 4th Floor 184-192 Drummond Street, London NW1 3HP Camden, London National affiliation National Union of Students Website http://www.officeronline.co.uk/lgbt/ The National Union of Students LGBT Campaign is a self running part the National Union of Students (NUS) to help liberate LGBT students.[1] The LGBT liberation campaign runs autonomously to the NUS with its own constitution and elected officials.
Contents
Campaigns
The NUS LGBT are mostly nationally recognisable for their high profile campaigns.
Donation not discrimination
The Donation not discrimination, with the tag line "It's time to end the ban", is a campaign to end the discrimination against men who have had sex with other men and women who have had sex with those men by the National Blood Service, who will not allow them to give blood, a policy justified by the claim that gay men have a higher chance of carrying HIV. The campaign believes the lifetime ban to be discriminatory and perpetuates the myth that AIDS is a “gay disease” and the selection criteria should not be based on sexual orientation, but on participation in high-risk behaviour. They further believe that in countries where this is the case, the number of HIV infections through blood transfusion has actually reduced.
The NUS LGBT Campaign has campaigned against the ban for five years and has had hundreds of LGBT students join the campaign and tens of thousands of people signing the petition against the ban[citation needed]. Stonewall, The National Aids Trust, Unison LGBT and others have joined the NUS with the campaign against the ban. While the campaign is mostly about education, it also encourages people who are allowed to give blood.
Putting the LGBT into FE
This campaign has been running since 2007 and is to help students in further education (FE) who want to set up or develop their LGBT groups. The campaign find that participation and support in FE insututions to be limited or non exsistant and this is to change this.
Annual Conference
The NUS LGBT conference is an opportunity for LGBT students activists from across the UK to come together to set the direction for the campaign for the year ahead, to attend workshops and hear speakers, and to network with other LGBT students.
One of the key functions of the conference is to debate, pass policy which forms the basis of NUS LGBT's campaigning and to ammed the constitution of the campaign. All changes to policy and the constitution are submitted by LGBT students or societies, up to 5 for each, previous to the conference which are then complied by the steering committee.
At the conference there is the annual NUS LGBT Awards, which started in 2007, to help promote and support the societies which have done things that are considered to be above and beyond the standard.
Elected representatives
Elected National officers Pre 2009
Year Women's Place Officer Open Place Officer 2000/1 Vicki Austin Beth Aze 2001/2 Carli Harper-Penman 2002/3 Carli Harper-Penman Daniel Murphy 2003/4 Sarah Thompson Carli Harper-Penman 2004/5 Kat Louis Ben Miskell 2005/6 James-J Walsh 2006/7 Claire Anderson Scott Cuthbertson 2007/8 Officers and committee members are elected at the annual conference by delegates.
Year National Officers Committee Members Women's Place Officer Open Place Officer Further Education Women's Trans Bi Black Disabled Open International 2008/9[2] Lucy Brookes Daf Adley Ian Campbell Vicki Baars Jen Daffin Laura Poultney Harri Cole Weeks Sophia James Mas Naina Emily Bowyer Alan Bailey Wes Morrison Rich Doughty 2009/10[3] Sarah Burton Nichola Elder Sarah Fennell Ursula Sam Harri Cole Weeks & Franklin Williams Tara Hewitt Tami Peterson Poggy Murray & Ollie Crook Elis Stephenson Dani Gross Phillipe Chiarella 2010/11 Vicki Baars Alan Bailey Lucas Abedecain Noah Gibney Sarah Burton Kelly McBride Emma Kerry Kai Weston Beth Evans Khaled Hamed & Bisi Alimi Sky Yarlett Hanif Leylabi Lev Taylor 2011/12 Lani Baird Joe Kelly Fionnuala McGoldrick Katie Kates Izzy John Joshua McKenzie *removed from office Emma Kerry Nick Pringle Dante Micheaux National officers
National officers within the LGBT campaign are elected paid officials who coordinate and fulfil the agenda of the campaign. Currently the elected officials are Vicki Baars and Alan Bailey, who will take over from Lucy Brooks and Daf Adley in July 2010 after they stepped down.
There are two officers for the NUS LGBT Campaign, one woman's place which is and is only elected by self identifying women and open place which is open to anyone who identifies within the membership of the LGBT campaign. The officers can only stand for two years before having to step down.
The first national officers were elected in 2000, after NUS Annual Conference voted to change the constitution in order for the positions to be created.
Committee Members
Committee Members are elected representatives which help prioritise the agenda of the campaign and fulfill it. There are currently thirteen positions on the committee of six types. The maximum term in office is two years in each type, and the representative must be elected each year.
Further Education
The Further Education representatives are elected by delegates who are in Further Education and is in Further Education at the time of election. There is currently two positions as Further Education representatives. They are elected to help tackle the lack of participation within the liberation campaign despite the majority of NUS's membership being Further Education and to improve further education for LGBT people. The current representatives are Lucas Abedecian and Nichelle Gibney, elected at the NUS LGBT Conference 2010.
Women's
The Women's representatives are elected by delegates who identify as a woman and can only be run for someone who identifies as a woman. There are currently two positions as Women's representatives. They are elected to help tackle the male dominance within the liberation campaign and in society, particularly for LGBT women in education. The current representatives are Sarah Burton, Emma Kerry and Kelly McBride, elected at the NUS LGBT Conference 2010.
Trans
The Trans representatives are elected by delegates who identify as trans and can only be run for by someone who identifies as trans. There are currently two positions as Trans representatives. They are elected to help tackle transphobia in the campaign and support trans people in society and education. The current representatives are Beth Evans and Kai Weston, elected at the NUS LGBT Conference 2010.
Bi
The Bi representative is elected by delegates who identify as bi and can only be run for someone who identifies as bi. However, in this context, bi is taken to include pansexuality and other orientations which are not single-sex, rather than just people who identify as bisexual. There is currently one position as bi representative. They are elected to help tackle biphobia in the campaign and support bi people in society and education. The current representative is Izzy John, elected at the NUS LGBT Conference 2011.
Black
The black representative comes from and are elected by a caucus of delegates who identify as black, or other ethnic minority. There is currently one position as black representative. They are elected to help tackle racism in the campaign and support black LGBT people in society and education. The current representatives are Khaled Jerry Hamed and Bisi Alimi as a jobshare, elected at the NUS LGBT Conference 2010.
Disabled
The Disabled representatives come from and are elected by a caucus of delegates who identify as Disabled. There is currently one position as Disabled representative. They are elected to help tackle ableism in the campaign and support Disabled LGBT people in society and education.
Open place
The open representatives are elected by delegates and can be run by any delegate. There is currently three positions as open representatives. They are elected to help the campaign in general. The current representatives are Sky Yarlett, Hanif Leylabi and Lev Taylor, elected at the NUS LGBT Conference 2010.
Steering committee
The committee is elected to set the agenda and complie the submitted motions and amendments for annual conference.
See also
References
- ^ "officeronline.co.uk". officeronline.co.uk. http://www.officeronline.co.uk/lgbt/. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
- ^ "officeronline.co.uk". officeronline.co.uk. http://www.officeronline.co.uk/lgbt/articles/275610.aspx. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
- ^ "officeronline.co.uk". officeronline.co.uk. http://www.officeronline.co.uk/lgbt/articles/276376.aspx. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
External links
National Union of Students (United Kingdom) President Liam Burns · List of Previous PresidentsStructure Members Non-affiliated unionsCategories:- Higher education in the United Kingdom
- National Union of Students of the United Kingdom
- Groups of students' unions
- LGBT and education
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