Blog by Chris Nash – BULS’ LGBTQ Officer

Ok, I don’t usually blog, it isn’t my thing. But here goes.

Sometimes we forget what an enlightened bubble we live in at University. To me, students seem to be at lest 10 years ahead of the rest of society. The concept of overly left-wing students may be just a stereotype, but at least we can be certain that we are by definition more educated than the general population. With education comes tolerance. Let me tell you a story;

There is a girl I know who recently come out as a Bisexual. I’ve known her for some time now, and as her most trusted friend she chose to come out to me and me alone. Unfortunately she isn’t a student, she’s still in further education, and when the news got out it wasn’t pretty. She has been abused, both verbally and physically, by people she considered friends; people who’s attitude is undeniably both homophobic and biphobic.

But for me that isn’t the worst bit. Having endured the abuse, she contacted a member of the academic staff to report the incident. Their response was less than desirable; ‘it’s your fault because it was your choice to be that way’ is the gist of it. This is unacceptable, just bloody unacceptable. At this university, we are lucky enough to have an anti-harassment policy which is suitably severe, but I don’t know what it is that I’m most pissed off with – the fact that an FE institution could have such a lax policy, or the fact that such absurd beliefs exist in the outside world. Naturally I intend to support my friend in getting those responsible held to account – even though personally I’d like to kill the fascist bastards. Right now, I’m just incredible grateful that I live in the enlightened world of academia.

Cheers,

Chris Nash