International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

Hello everyone, for those of you who don’t know me, my name is Ken Smailes and I am the outgoing President of RUSU’s LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans) Liberation Group and the RUSU LGBT Part Time Officer.

Today is an extremely important day for the LGBT community globally; it is the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia or simply IDAHO for short. This day is celebrated every year on May 17th to highlight that the unfair treatment of the LGBT community still happens around the world and still within the UK. It is a day for the LGBT community globally, to join together with the rest of the world and stand up against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

To put the rights of the LGBT community into context, I want to give you a brief history lesson. In 1957 in the UK, Lord Wolfenden, who at the time was the vice chancellor of the University of Reading, wrote a report that called on the removal of homosexuality as an illegal act. It was with this report and continued pressure on the government that homosexuality finally became legal in the UK in 1967. Ever since 1967 the LGBT community in the UK has been slowly receiving more and more rights in their fight for equality. It was only in 2002 that LGBT couples, or single LGBT individuals were given equal adoption rights. Now it looks increasingly more likely that same sex couples will be able to marry. Yet these rights that the LGBT community have in the UK are not universal and even in the USA, in some states, LGBT people can still be removed from their jobs for simply defining as a different sexuality. Equality for the LGBT community has not been achieved in the UK or worldwide.

Unfortunately instances of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are also still very real within the UK and the wider world. This unfair treatment of the LGBT community can come in many forms, whether it is physical harassment, murder, derogatory use of the word ‘gay’ or many other things, for many individuals it is all still too real an occurrence. I was shown this video by a member of the LGBT group recently and it really put the problem of homophobia into context for me:

Today is however a day to create change!

Yes homophobia, biphobia and transphobia is still a very real part of the LGBT communities life but we can all put an end to this, by simply standing up for the equal treatment of everyone. No one deserves to be treated differently just because they are of a different sexuality or gender or sexual orientation. Everyone is equal and we should show this through our actions.

Unfair treatment of anyone whether they are of a different race, gender, sexuality etc doesn’t have a place on our campus or within our community and let’s demonstrate this through our actions.

Ken Smailes
RUSU LGBT President and RUSU LGBT Part Time Officer

NUS LGBT Conference 2012

Ken Smailes 

NUS LGBT Conference, a weekend of drama, policy, motions, Manchester nightlife and development of LGBT rights. I can honestly say I have never been to such an encouraging and thought-provoking conference. The Reading University delegation decided that we would all write a blog/report so that you and the society can see how we voted on your behalf and to encourage you to get involved in the LGBT movement and the fight for ever-increasing rights. 

Over the weekend, I attended a number of different workshops, the most interesting and important to me was one titled ‘faith and sexuality, a dialogue’. This workshop had a lot of relevance to me as I grew up in a very Christian family and have always found the relationship between faith and sexuality particularly difficult to negotiate. The workshop gave advice and how to workshops to have an open and frank discussion about how sexuality and different faiths can work together; you don’t just have to have one or another. It was also really interesting to see how many people at conference both defined as LGBT and as with faith, which was encouraging.

The weekend was mainly filled with motion debate; these motions go into NUS LGBT policy and dictate how the campaign is run over the next year. I am happy to say that the majority of policy passed was brilliant, it included motions to encourage more work on helping trans people parent, sexual health, more equal representation of bisexual people and continuation of the campaign on ending the blood donation ban for men who sleep with men. The motion that did seem to be most controversial was that including Harry Potter and Dumbledore as a gay figure, this definitely brought some strong opinions from the conference floor. All these motions and discussion was really heartening but did make me want to stay on another year to be able to work on these new campaigns!

Lastly the highlight of the weekend for me had to be the NUS LGBT awards and Gala Dinner which celebrated 40 years of the NUS LGBT campaign. There were a total of six awards up for grabs and Reading University Student Union LGBT was eligible for 5 of these. I am very proud to say that we were shortlisted for three of them, which means we were in the top five for these categories out of nearly 100 institutions!! These were Campaign of the Year, Society Development Award and LGBT Higher Education Student of the Year. To get this amount of shortlists was incredible; it is testament to the work of the society, the amazing people in it and the lengths we have all come. You should all feel so proud of yourself and I know we are only going to get better year on year.

Ken Smailes

LGBT President and RUSU LGBT Student Officer

RUSU Marks International Women's Day

To mark this year's International Women's Day Carys Williams from the Reading University Women's Campaign guest blogs for us today.

This International Women’s Day (Thursday 8th March) Oxfam is raising money to help women around the world! Reading University’s Women’s Campaign is organising a cake stall at this year’s Fairtrade Fashion Show to raise money; we are also collecting donations at the event. Raising money for this cause is very important: 70% of those who live in poverty are women.

Oxfam say that by “empowering and equipping a woman with the resources to work her way out poverty transforms entire communities down the generations”.

Inequality has a massive impact on income. Despite completing 2/3 of the world’s working hours women still only earn 10% of the wages made a year. International Women’s Day is designed to raise awareness in the still existing gap in gender equality and to provide women living in poverty with a means of bettering their lives.

We hope that by raising awareness we can contribute to the fights against poverty and to achieving gender equality. An important component in the success of campaigns like these is their popular support and public interest and this is why events such as those hosted in International Women’s Day are important.

To find out more visit Oxfam’s Website: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/WomensDay

Ben Haines: The elections and “The Fear”

Hiya.

Apologies to all of you who over the last week were pestered, harassed, shouted at, flyered, postered, written on and so on and so forth.  Anyone who doesn’t know why this was needs to have a word with themselves.  The RUSU elections 2011/12 took place last week and were a serious success.  The funny thing is, though I just apologised… I’m really not sorry.  Not a sausage. I’m sorry that I’m not sorry.  The elections are magic. 

How did we do?

Here we go jargon and serious face time: Within one week more students take part in a democratic process than any other time during the year.  Nearly 3000 handsome and well-groomed Reading students got online and voted for who they want to lead their student union next year.  More, ladies and gents, than ever before.  If you were part of this, cheers.

Like Kelly Rowland, usually I’m down for whatever  - but in particular I’m down for democracy.  It’s a nice feeling knowing that though on the outside people tend to seem apathetic and a bit sluggish to get involved, they do care about this stuff!  Even the nice young lady who came and sat down and said to me “You do realise I’m only doing this because I want free pizza.” The fact she then sat down and took the time to look at the candidates and work out who she wanted to vote for is a success.

So, who have you got coming in to replace me next year? I know what you’re all thinking…how do you replace the irreplaceable? STOP IT you flirts! Ceri jones, Nick Cook, Cara Swift, James Fletcher and Sophie Davies all did really good campaigning, and off the back of this they are going to be your Student Officer team for next year.  And what a pleasant and amusing bunch of cats they are.  I for one will be happy to hand over my office to Ceri , your new VP for Democracy and Campaigns, secure in the knowledge it’s in safe hands. She’s nice and that.

The Fear

One other thing I wanted to talk about is “The Fear”.  I remember this time last year, when The Fear hit me.  It comes to a point in the year when everyone panics about work, and people become irrational.  The remote gets lost for the TV and there’s a Cluedo-style witch hunt for whose fault it was.  Someone doesn’t do the washing up and they’re now “just the worst guy”. 

Listen Colonel Mustard/ Miss Scarlett! Put the lead piping down and take a little breather.  This time of year is stressful. You need the people around you, like your friends and housemates, to be the ones helping you to calm down.  Make sure you give people some slack, because come exam time you’ll be relying on them to keep you sane.  In the meantime, don’t peak too soon.  Get in some time for R & R, make time to go out with your mates and enjoy the weekends. You’ll feel much better about work when you know you’ve got something to look forward to!

I love feedback.  So… even if you want to just come and have a nag at me about last week, my office is in the RUSU hub.  I’ll provide biscuits and a cup of tea for anyone who does, like the good host I am. 

Finally, I can be followed on twitter! For all things democracy and campaigns follow @rusu_vpdc or for the more exciting stuff without the watershed follow @benjhaines.

I’ll write again before Easter about some really exciting stuff we’ve got coming up in the summer.  In the mean time, I’ve missed you guys.

*flame rekindled, walks away slowly, looks back over shoulder and smiles*

See you all soon

Ben

P.S Campus Central now sells hot-dogs. Quality right?! Another huge win for students, get in there and give them a try, they’re DE-lish.

Student Volunteering Week Success!

20^th – 26^th February was National Student Volunteering Week and RUSU celebrated in style with an action-packed programme, including greenhouse building, talks and a volunteering fayre. This provided students with plenty of opportunity to get involved with volunteering, both on and off campus.

Voices of Reading (the new RUSU community choir) held its first rehearsal at George Palmer Primary School at the start of the week and by the end of an hour the 22 voices were singing in harmony. With members ranging from 6 months old to 70-years-old, this is a true community choir but one that needs more students! You don’t need to have any experience of singing, just come along and give it a go. The choir is free, welcomes all and sings a whole variety of pieces, all from memory.

Thirty-eight charities and community groups attended the volunteering fayre on Wednesday to recruit students, but the highlight of the week was the progress made with building a plastic bottle greenhouse. The eco-friendly greenhouse is being built in the garden at Little Learners Nursery on campus, out of hundreds of plastic bottles. Having levelled the ground and marked out the site on Monday, we returned on Thursday afternoon with a team of volunteers to get to work in the sunshine. With the help of the nursery children we peeled labels, washed bottles and managed to build 2 walls of the greenhouse.

We now urgently need more 2 litre bottles to finish building, so please contact the Students’ Union if you have 2 litre bottles. The children want to get planting so we need to get it finished!

The week also saw the launch of Reading University Volunteering Society – a NEW student–run network. The society will consist of various student representatives who will have responsibility for setting up new volunteering projects, therefore giving students a greater say over volunteering at Reading. By the summer term we hope to have had an afternoon tea in 3sixty for local elderly people on campus, an art mural painted at a local school and a weekly activity programme for children and young people with disabilities up and running. Who knows what else…the student committee will direct the volunteering projects.

As the Society grows, with the help of the Students’ Union, it will support and connect students who are interested in volunteering with events and projects throughout the year. Email volunteer@reading.ac.uk to find out more about volunteering and the Students’ Union.  

Fairtrade Fashion Show with a Body-Positive Message

Image via Wikipedia

Guest post from Carys Williams.

This Fairtrade Fortnight Reading University Fairtrade Society and Reading University Women’s Campaign are hosting a Fairtrade Fashion Show! The show will take place on the 9th of March in 3sixty.

On the night, in addition to a catwalk featuring local Fairtrade clothes and accessories, we will have dresses designed by students using Fairtrade material. If anybody would like to make a dress please contact the Fairtrade Society.

There will also be performances from the Bellydance and Singer Songwriter Societies and stalls organised by the Women’s Campaign, Travel Society, RUDDIYS, Campus Central and Traidcraft. This includes a clothes swap and Fairtrade baskets for sale!

The show aims to promote awareness of Fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight. This year’s national campaign is “Take a Step” towards going Fairtrade and we hope to spread the word! Fairtrade cotton is one of the least bought Fairtrade products in the UK, but through raising awareness at events like this we hope that this will change!

This year’s campaign run by the Women’s Campaign intends to spread the body positive word by way of a poster campaign on campus and through the Fashion Show. The campaign aims to alleviate our doubts about our looks, and to promote variety and diversity in style and outward appearance.

Everyone is welcome! Tickets cost £3 with NUS and £4 for guests.

Don’t think volunteering is for you?

Would you spend at least three years at university writing essays, attending 9am seminars and toiling away in the library if you weren't going to wear a silly hat at the end of it all, shake the Vice Chancellor’s hand and most importantly, be awarded a degree? The answer, for most of you I imagine, is no. Just like you probably wouldn't particularly enjoy working till the early hours in 3sixty and not getting paid for your hard work.
Some of you might be thinking that this is exactly what volunteers do…work for no pay.
I am hoping Student Volunteering Week will change that view…

Image via Wikipedia

Volunteering can be picking up litter or sorting clothes in a charity shop but it can also involve running boat trips for the Kennett and Avon Canal Trust or helping the police train sniffer dogs! RUSU’s volunteering policy for a start ensures that you will never be working to replace paid staff. The charities and community groups attending the volunteering fayre are all really in need of your support and volunteering can give you so much more than something to pad out your CV.
So, to help persuade those of you who aren’t too keen, take a look at the top reasons to volunteer below:

• Recent research shows that those who volunteer to help others (as opposed to themselves i.e. not for personal gain), live longer than those who don’t volunteer
• Develop a new skill – learn to produce music at a local youth centre, become an expert cake maker working with residents at Lakeside Care Home…many volunteering opportunities also provide training in counselling, public speaking, first aid - all of which benefit you
• Meet people in the community! Escape the bubble of campus and meet a whole new range of people, some of whom may become good friends. Volunteering can be a very sociable activity and a great insight to the way different people live 

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  Image via Wikipedia

  Sense of achievement – There are opportunities to get awards from both the University and Students’ Union and your volunteering can also go towards the RED Award. But more than that, volunteering gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside. It sounds cheesy, but if you help give a child the confidence to fling themselves down a slide at an adventure park or help Cancer Research fundraise in Reading town centre you will feel a great sense of personal satisfaction 
• It does boost your career opportunities! A survey carried out by TimeBank through Reed Executive showed that among 200 of the UK’s leading businesses:
  • 73% of employers would recruit a candidate with volunteering experience over one without
  • 94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills 
  • 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted

You can draw upon your volunteering to answer all sorts of questions in job interviews: tell us about a time you worked as a team… (the perfect question for many volunteers!)

• New interests, opportunities and experiences! You never know, by helping on a sports project coaching children with disabilities, you may find that you actually really enjoy badminton and end up playing socially on a regular basis. Through your volunteering you could travel abroad and even meet celebrities – like our Duke of Edinburgh Society who even got to meet royalty as a result of their volunteering! 

Take a look at this Guardian article about other University students and their volunteering. Get involved, escape the student bubble and immerse yourself in the culture you live in!