National Union of Students LGBT+ Campaign

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
nus.org.uk/en/campaigns/lgbt/

The National Union of Students LGBT Campaign is an LGBT advocacy group that is an autonomous part of the National Union of Students (NUS).

Campaigns

File:NUS LGBT Donation Not Discrimination flyer.jpg

A flyer which the NUS LGBT flyer puts up around campuses when the National Blood Service visits educating people about the ban.

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. 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.

Officers and committee members are elected at the annual conference by delegates.

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 Sky Yarlett and Finn McGoldrick, who will take over from Alan Bailey and Vicki Baars in July 2012 after they step 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 Lani Baird and Joe Vinson, elected at the NUS LGBT Conference 2012.

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.

Bi

The Bi representative is elected by delegates who identify as bi and can only be run for someone who identifies as bi. 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 representatives are Lauren Connors and Matt Stanley, elected as a jobshare at the NUS LGBT Conference 2012.

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.

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 contested by any delegate. There are currently three positions as open representatives. They are elected to help the campaign in general. The current representatives are David Pleavin, Nick Pringle and Stephen Donnelly, elected at the NUS LGBT Conference 2012.

Women's place

The women's place representatives come from and are elected by a caucus of delegates who self identify as women. There are currently three positions as women's representatives. They are elected to tackle sexism and help the campaign in general.

Steering committee

The committee is elected to set the agenda and compile the submitted motions and amendments for annual conference.