Kat Louis, NUS LGBT (Women’s Place) Officer

Hello and welcome to conference. This is my last conference as Officer with the NUS LGBT Campaign and I’m hoping it will be a good one!

Since winter conference I hit a bit of a dip. I lost enthusiasm for the campaign due to various reasons and felt really disheartened. On top of this my girlfriend and I were subject to a homophobic attack by 3 men which left us both with multiple injuries in January (over 40 between us). This didn’t have the best effect on me but if there is one thing I can thank those thugs for it is that they made me realise the injustice, persecution, intimidation, violence and blind hatred that LGBT people face. On top of the fact that it opened my eyes again, when I had dared to get slightly complacent, it made the fight for LGBT rights personal again. This renewed energy is what has kept me fighting since that very day. So here’s what I did after…..

I met with NOLAN an Older Lesbian Network to look at how they could get their network to accept and work with Trans Lesbians. After having a two hour discussion about the importance of a network such as NOLAN and providing support to all self defining lesbians I agreed to set up a meeting between NUS and NOLAN with both of our Trans reps and 3 members of NOLAN. This meeting went ahead in Manchester in February and it was one of the most informative and interesting meetings I have been to. The NOLAN network is trying to set up a branch of its network that has charitable status so that it can deal with the welfare of older lesbians and the issues they face. This branch is the Labrys Trust and the aim of the trust is to deal with issues such as accommodation in old people’s homes for Lesbian couples and self identifying lesbians who may face harassment in the home for being lesbian. The meeting left myself and the committee members Emma D and Phoebe much more aware of the issues faced by older LGBT people and left the Labrys Trust which a much stronger toolkit to introduce Trans representation into their organisation. As yet I have not heard their progress but before conference I will try and track their progress and get back to you. That meeting also made me realise that your passion doesn’t die with age you just find new things to fight for. I wish NOLAN and the Labrys Trust the greatest success in their fight to add the T.

After the first meeting with NOLAN (still in January) I met with the pink paper to see how we could work with them and how they could work with us. Out of that meeting we managed to get an advert to request for estrangement cases in the pink paper and also there was talk about developing a student/youth section of the pink paper which would be ace! We also discussed how we could get more LGBT publications into unions and increase LGBT visibility. [Pink Paper deliver for free to unions and university groups so if you want copies then please call up the pink paper or contact me!] we also talked about increased coverage of political and NUS issues and so far they have been really good.

After that meeting but in the same week I attended the Network Day in Scotland and ran a workshop on women’s representation and involvement and I was impressed to see so many people actively engaging in women’s issues. I stayed for the whole day and also talked about the campaigns that NUSUK were running. After running the workshops and networking for the whole day I then attended a superheroes birthday party which I must say was interesting!

Then after the week end I went the NEC meeting on the Monday and I spent 10 hours in NUS HQ trying to arrange the Let’s Get Back Together days and sorting out the day to day stuff that must be done in the campaign.

I also attended the School’s Out conference in the Goodge Hall in London which was an amazing conference with drama, rap music from Q boy and loads of other amazing readings and workshops. It was great to hear about the success of the Stamp Out Homophobia campaign which Schools Out supported and it was amazing to see the gigantic petition which more than filled the whole hall with signatures and foot prints to stamp out homophobia. Well done to Claire for that one! It was an amazing opportunity to network and I fortunately met a homophobic case worker from victim support who agreed to write a section of the AtoZ for me so that was productive! Thank you very much Anna for the work you did!

As well as the work that I do for the campaign I have to work for the NEC that runs NUS as a whole so for a week in February I was touring the country to attend the regional conferences. I made most of the conferences but I missed two in the first round because I had work to do back home and I also took a day out to work with the St Martins crew to defend their LGBT Officer position and to work with a number of committee members to put the dates together for the Women on Women Day.

I also attended the National council meeting in Feb (on valentines day, all day!) much to my girlfriends disproval. At national council I also met officially with the VP FE to talk about accessing the FE Networks to promote LGBT awareness with the help of Kyle and Darren the FE reps on LGBT committee. After that I met with stonewall to talk about the estrangement research that was happening with the access all area’s campaign and we went over the best way to collect and present the data we were collecting for our report. I meet with Ruth from stonewall and she was amazingly helpful and she helped to shape the research that we did. We also talked about how stonewall could engage more with NUS and vice versa. We talked about homophobia in sport and I embarked on a mission to find funding for a national research project on homophobia in sport but unfortunately between us we found nothing. We talked about many things alongside the research but I don’t have enough time to write everything.

We had a committee meeting on Feb the 18th and with the new committee round ups it was great to hear what the committee were doing in their area’s. We discussed important issues and it was a good chance to get together to finalise the rest of the dates for the Let’s Get Back Together campaign.

Now might be a good chance to note that nearly every Wednesday I go into the office to deal with all the work of the campaign and have most of my London meetings on a Wednesday. I try to arrange all my meetings on a Wednesday to save the campaign travel costs and then the rest of the time I work from home.

I visited Bradford to run a workshop in late February and I was hoping to make the Lobby of Parliament on the 1st of March with NUS but I was summoned to court as a witness so I was unable to attend. However at the end of the week I made up for it by travelling to the ‘Something So Strong’ conference in Blackpool which was organised fantastically by Hayley Mills and her gang. I did a workshop on political activism with some young people and they blew my expectations completely by putting together a presentation that managed to capture the whole conferences attention and involve an arrest! It was a fake one but it was truly amazing and I hope everyone in that workshop will stay politically active. I also joined a panel discussion and talked about the blood service as well as taking time out to read a poem on homophobia and being a young person. This was a really good conference and gave me a chance to do youth work again which I haven’t had mush chance to do with NUS.

I must mention at this point that previously whilst travelling to the Scottish network day with Hayley we started trying to thinnk about the positive things about being LGBT and I must say we found quite hard so please take 2 mins and 7 secs to just think about the positives being LGBT. It’s silly but we spend so much time fighting the bad things but we forget about the good things!

Task: Think about positive things about being LGBT for 2.07 mins

A week later back in NUS HQ I found myself attending a charity Female Stand Up show for International women’s day and I have to say it was about the funniest thing I’ve ever been to. I really would recommend you all to go to at least one event that you haven’t organised just to enjoy yourself!

I have also met with the Rainbow network for the Department of Constitutional affairs to advise them on women’s representation and how to include more women in their network. It was a brief meeting but very productive in exchanging information.

I attended women’s conference in March and listened to some amazing speakers as well as taking part in caucuses and workshops. I love meeting women from outside the LGBT network just to keep my eye on the ball.

As well as attending women’s conference I also attended national conference and the meetings for the NEC before the conference. We had an amazing stall with all our publicity on and I also put on the forms for the Society of the year awards as well as collecting contact details of liberation societies across the UK, I did this for our campaign and the other nus liberation campaigns.

After the conferences and before the conferences I spent most of my time doing the work for the LGBT dates and the cosiety of the year award and not to mention co-ordinating and researching the chapters of the AtoZ. All chapters have been written by volunteers and I cannot thank every one enough for their hard work it has really come together. We should have over 15 sections of the AtoZ by the end of the academic year and I wouldn’t be surprised if we got 20 or more sections.

On the 11th of April I headed off to an event called Queer Easter in Germany which I paid for to save money and I spent a week on the outskirts of Germany with 100 LGBT/Queer activists. I worked running training session and workshops and it was officially the best time of my life! I met so many people, made so many friends and learnt so much. It was a week without homophobia or hate and it was heavenly. I could easily spend a whole day telling you about it but it may be easier if you just sit me down and let me rant other than me writing an essay. This is already really long.

After Queer Easter I got queer blues and missed my international comrades immensely but I also got new ideas and new enthusiasm! Yay! Always good! You will hopefully see some of the new things at conference. [Please bring any publicity that you have for your group to conference.] After the Queer Easter event it was meant to be the FE not F Off day but unfortunately after checking the date for the event 4 times with others I was not told that there were plans for a lobby of parliament on that date so we’ve rescheduled the event to late June which is cool! After that we had the Bi day – OUR MIND IS MADE UP. That was great for me, and enlightening, which I must admit is quite a rare thing now it’s normal just to hear old arguments rephrased but I really did learn a lot from that day, thanks to Bethan and Jen and everyone else for that day! Then after that we had the International day – ONE WORLD which I loved and has been my favourite thing all year and also the most horrific thing all year. We have so much work to do internationally we cannot leave our comrades alone any longer. We are part of the LGBT community not just here but all over the world and we need to start to recognise their struggles as well as our own and learn from their strength resourcefulness and sheer passion and conviction. It was a truly amazing and thought provoking day that I will remember for a long time to come, thank you Bethan for organising it, thank you to Conny who came over from Berlin and thank you to Verity from Amnesty you were all fabulous!

What do you know about LGBT rights internationally?

Task: Research and Discuss LGBT rights internationally with a friend for 27mins and spread the word!

The Black LGBT day was next on the list and went ahead on the Saturday the feedback has been amazing unfortunately I couldn’t get up to see everyone but I’m am amazed at just how hard Shaz, Tee and Pav worked on that day everyone who worked hard on that day deserves a serious pat on the back.

On the 8th of May I went to the Equalities Review consultation event and frankly I was appalled at the half arsed attempt at a document that was produced. This should be the biggest review of equality that this country has ever had but alas when you put a committee of non-representational middle class business people together what more do you expect? If you have chance to read the appalling document please google the equalities review and pull up the document however saying that it is probably one of the most inaccessible documents I have ever seen in my life. So much so that it left Stonewall baffled on one section! Please do take part in the consultation which finishes on the 5th June I have already started to form a response from NUS on the equalities review but the more responses we get the more likely they are to take notice.

I’ve also just submitted a statement to Liberty to be used as evidence in the UK case to acknowledge two women’s Canadian marriage as a marriage in the UK. This would set an amazing president if this case succeeded and would be a great achievement for the Access All Areas campaign.

There are more Let’s Get Back Together days coming up before and after conference so please check online to stay updated or call me on 07813571919.

I’ve been doing plenty of things this year and hopefully this will give you an overview of the main things that I have done, I’ve not been able to achieve everything but I’ve got pretty close. I’ve also been working on some new stuff for the web but I’ll tell you that at conference if it works. Oh yeah and I spent ages dealing with the blood service stuff and I got my first unusual piece of hate mail!

Thank You’s

Thank You’s are always hard I’ve already thanked some of you but there are many more people to thank, some people just for being yourselves, some people for being active, some people for being supportive and many more people for being my friend. I want to thank the members of the NEC that have become my friends- Flick (cashier no 5), Ellie (a star), Jess, Judith, Dan C (my puzzle and knitting companions).

And others: Pav (should be president), Jo (have to thank the senior dyke it’s the law). I also want to thank the entire LGBT committee Hayley you’ve been inspiring, Naomh you’re just cool, Bethan our international expert, Ele for being so passionate, James Piper you born to be a doctor, Shaz and Tee, Emma and Phoebe you are all amazing and I know you will go far. Everyone else on committee has been fabulous. We have lost a number of committee members through general disappearances or personal reasons and this is disappointing but for those of you that have stuck it out you have my respect, even if I have disagreed with some of you from time to time ; ).

I need to thank Ellie O one of my dearest friends for starting off with me in the movement. I also have to thank Ant who is my party buddy and whom I love dearly!

I have to thank my International comrades and friends, Bettina (my angel), Conny, Isha, Lilach, Fly (semi-international), Carly and Leah (you are so young and you will do great things.) Clemens, Lucasz, Samire, Odin and Ozlem and everyone else that I have had the pleasure to meet. You have changed my life in so many ways and I will always have the memories of the summer camp and Queer Easter. I love you all!

I have to thank people like Vic and Ben from Liverpool and Helen from St Martins (: P) and my best bud Claire from Bradfordhank you for being there when I needed you) it’s people like you that have kept me going.

I also have to add a big thank you to Scot and Stewart you are both my favourite boys! And that is saying something.

I have a big thank you to say to Claire from bugs you’ve taught me something about campaigning and a lot about winning hearts and minds. You are amazingly good at what you do and hopefully you’ll continue your work.

I have to thank Tiff my amazing other half who has stuck by me through thick and thin and has made me realise that love is not a bad thing. Love ya!

My last thank you is to the two people in NUS that have kept me going in my time at NUS you have been my sanity for the last two years and you’ve been absolutely amazing…. To find out whom you are stay tuned for the next episode of LGBT Summer Conference!

Task: Lick your elbow with your tongue. All photos to kat.louis@nus.org.uk I am starting an album.

You can contact me for anything you need (within reason : )) on kat.louis@nus.org.uk or 07813571919.

Yours in Pride

Kat Louis NUS LGBT (women’s place) Officer

Important: I am doing the Great Manchester Run and if I raise £500 for the Albert Kennedy Trust I will do the whole thing in a DRESS!

Please sponsor me at: www.justgiving.com/katlouis

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