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[POSTPONED] We Are Human: Personal Stories of LGBTQ+ Identities and Intersection

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO UCU STRIKES. A DATE LATER IN THE YEAR WILL BE DETERMINED.

 

The Staff Pride Network is excited to announce a new LGBTQ+ conference which will take place on Friday 21st February 2020 (during Flexible Learning Week) called ‘We Are Human: Personal Stories of LGBTQ+ Identities and Intersection’.

 

We Are Human Conference – Friday 21st Feb 2020 MyEd booking link

 

Presentations will be personal in nature from those with lived experience and panels will discuss the important topics of our time:

 

  • Hassan Marah MSc Criminal Justice & Sharon Boateng

Criminal Investigation Officer with the Fraud Investigation Service

“Micro Incivilities – The Paper Cut Effect”

 

  • Will Dalgleish

HIV Scotland Chief Executive; Chair of the Lothian Patient Forum

“Creating Stigma-Free Spaces and Places for People Living with HIV”

 

  • Sergeant Frazer Robertson (British Transport Police)

Chair – Scottish LGBTI Police Association

“A Rainbow Voice Among The Thin Blue Line …”

 

  • Emma Dunn

Chair A:gender – Network for trans and intersex staff across government

“Emma’s Story (aka Sex, Drugs and Smear Tests)”

 

  • Derek Bradford

HMRC LGBT+ PRISM Network Chairperson

“Bringing Your Whole Self To Work”

 

  • Becky Kaufmann

Scottish Trans Alliance Justice Policy Officer

“Our Lives Are Real: Being Trans in Scotland in 2020”

 

With funding from the University we are delighted to make this available free of charge. A buffet lunch and refreshments are included, thanks to funding from the Principal’s Fund, University of Edinburgh Finance and all 3 Colleges of the University.

 




Queen of Ireland, Panti Bliss reflection on World AIDS Day

My eyes popped out of my head and I couldn’t hold back an excited grin sitting at my desk. HIV Scotland were asking if the Staff Pride Network would be interested in hosting a World AIDS Day Q&A with Panti Bliss! Panti Bliss! She who successfully campaigned for Equal Marriage in the Republic of Ireland, delivered an emotional TED talk on LGBT+ equality “All the little things”, whose speech in the national theatre of Ireland has been viewed on YouTube almost 1 MILLION times, and owns Pantibar in Dublin’s gay scene! I’ve been there many years ago and I cherished the memory as the closest I’ve been to this Irish activist icon.

On Saturday 30th November we welcomed staff, students and the local community to join Rory O’Neill aka Panti at Old College’s Usha Kacera Lecture Theatre. He has been openly HIV positive for many years and HIV Scotland’s CEO Nathan Sparling discussed with Rory about his upbringing, the creation of Panti Bliss and about using his visibility to combat HIV stigma. He shared memories of a rural childhood, the birth of Panti Bliss in Japan and how his HIV medication has changed from 38 tablets per day when diagnosed, to just 1 today, and no longer any side-effects. Rory talked about how HIV is not the killer it once was: taking the tablet makes the virus so diminished in the bloodstream that it is undetectable and multiple research studies have shown that makes it untransmittable. U = U (undetectable = untransmittable). He highlighted the simple facts that people aren’t dying any more so there aren’t ads on TV and support services are less funded.

Questions were asked, Rory/Panti was sincere, genuine, funny, relatable, personal, everything I expected and more. We are delighted that the event raised £253 for HIV Scotland, who recently launched their #ZEROHIV strategic plan for Scotland to reach zero new HIV transmissions, zero HIV-related deaths and zero HIV-related stigma by 2030.

As a mark of solidarity for World AIDS Day, we collaborated with the University Estates team and obtained funding from the University Secretary’s Group to light up McEwan Hall, Appleton Tower and New College in red. Check out our Tweet if you missed seeing them for yourself.

Jonathan MacBride

HIV Scotland – learn about the work they do and how you can get involved




Celebrating Bi Visibility

I was really pleased to have my first public-facing engagement as newly elected Co-Chair and Bi Rep of the Staff Pride Network as being part of a panel discussion about bi visibility for Bi Visibility Day on 23 September 2019. It was an opportunity for the panellists (myself, Ellen Blair (Bisexual and Pansexual Officer from Pride Soc), Elliot Byrom (EUSA Trans and Non-Binary Officer), Lorna (one of the founders from the Scottish Bi+ Network) and Ellen Desmond (one of the editors from Monstrous Regiment – publishers of ‘The Bi-ble’)) to speak about our personal perspectives on bi-visibility and our identities as bisexual people. This was followed by questions from the audience.

There was discussion on being out at work, assumptions that are made about your identity depending on whether you’re in a relationship with someone of the same gender ‘Oh you must be gay’ or with someone of the opposite gender ‘So, you’re straight now?’. There is so much erasure of bisexual identities from both the straight and the queer communities.

It was a truly refreshing experience to be able to speak so freely and openly, very rewarding and empowering. The room was really engaged in the discussion and I hope that everyone involved got at least as much as I did out of the experience.

Katie Nicoll Baines




50 Years After Stonewall

Marking the milestone event

This year saw the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots – the events following a police raid on the Stonewall bar in New York City in 1969 which are today seen as a turning point in LGBT+ history. The University of Edinburgh and the Staff Pride Network at the University marked this milestone with a week-long series of events at the beginning of the academic year. The ‘Stonewall week’ was organised by SPN Member Dr Paul Behrens, a Reader in Law, with the help of Sean Becker and Alexander Wolffenbüttel (research assistants at UoE) and members of the SPN and allies who helped at the individual events. At the beginning of the week stood a reception at the Scottish Parliament on 10 September 2019, at which Nicola Sturgeon (First Minister of Scotland) and Sir Stephen Wall (former Permanent Representative of the UK to the European Union and chair of Kaleidoscope Trust) gave keynote speeches. The reception was introduced by Patrick Harvie MSP (Co-Convenor of the Scottish Green party and Co-Chair and Co-Convenor of the LGBTI+ cross-party group at the Scottish Parliament), who was also the Parliamentary Sponsor for this event. On the following day, the University raised the Rainbow flag at Old College, the Bi flag at the Old Medical School and the Trans flag at New College in support of the events.

Stonewall conference

Thursday and Friday were dedicated to a multidisciplinary conference on ’50 Years After Stonewall’, which took place at the Playfair Library and in St Cecilia’s Hall. In the course of that conference, scholars from a large range of universities, activists from Nigeria and from Uganda, diplomats and leaders of religious communities gave presentations which explored the progress of the LGBT+ community in the last half century and the remaining challenges from the perspectives of law, medicine, politics, education, Scottish society and Scots law, but also from the views of African and Asian countries and the Arab peninsula. A particular highlight was a paper given by Jason Chien, Director-General, Taipei Representative Office in the UK, Edinburgh Office, who spoke about the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Taiwan – the first Asian country to take that step. A longer session on the second conference day was dedicated to religion and the LGBT+ community, concluding with a roundtable with representatives from Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Supporters and funders

The Stonewall week met with considerable support within the university and was made possible through donations by the Law School, the Edinburgh Centre for International and Global Law, the Principal’s Fund, the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine and the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability.

Reflection

Reflecting on the conference, Dr Behrens said:

We are immensely grateful to all our sponsors and to everybody who contributed to the conference. Stonewall laid the groundwork for great achievements, including the recognition of gay rights in many Western States. But there is a danger of getting complacent. The experts at our conference have shown us that it is still a long journey to full equality. Gay and transgender asylum seekers still face prejudice within the immigration system. Homeless LGBT people are among the most vulnerable members of society, and there are still countries where gay people face the death penalty. But there is light as well. The legalisation of gay marriage in Taiwan and the recent judgment in Botswana against anti-gay laws demonstrate that progress is made even in parts of the world that tend to be socially conservative. These are beacons of hope. We may only see the beginnings of change, but its consequences will be felt around the world.

 




Feedback from Network of Network Higher Education LGBT+ event

I had a whirlwind, there-and-back-in-a day, trip to Milton Keynes for the Network of Network in Higher Education event on the 8th of October. It was brilliant to meet representatives from other HE institutions and learn how their LGBT+ networks operate and are recognised and supported (or not in many cases) by their institutions.

There were talks on trans inclusion in HE, centring around the experience of an academic from Oxford University, highlighting how traditions often result in inequality. We heard from the Birmingham network about their involvement in helping to support LGBT+ staff in the setting up of their Dubai campus, of particular relevance on that date given that it was International Lesbian Visibility Day. I think living in a country that largely has quite progressive attitudes (with much obvious progress still to make) towards LGBT+ identities many of us often forget that there are many parts of the world that are not safe for LGBT+ people.

The day culminated with the Manchester University LGBT+ network sharing how far they have come in the past 10 years, it was brilliant to see the evolution of their network over time. I was left inspired and emboldened that our network here in Edinburgh has much to contribute to the wider community of networks as well as a lot of expertise through our lived experiences that are hugely valuable to the university community.

Katie Nicoll Baines




SPN Book Group

The SPN Book Group meets once a month after work (usually on the third Thursday) to discuss a book over a drink or cup of tea. We select books based on member suggestions and have read books from all genres, from sci-fi to self-help and from philosophy to high fantasy, with and without LGBTQ+ content.

Our next meeting will be Thursday 16th January, 17:45-19:00 (venue TBC). We’ll be discussing ‘Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl’ by Andrea Lawlor. All are welcome to attend.

For more information please see our SharePoint folder or e-mail Anna on anna.smith@ed.ac.uk.

 

 




SPN Merchandise

Hello all! My name is Cathy and I am your new merchandise co-ordinator.

I started working at the University of Edinburgh in February 2019. At first, I was nervous about becoming a member of the Staff Pride Network, as I hadn’t had the opportunity to engage openly with other LGBT+ community networks in previous workplaces as a straight-passing bisexual. Thankfully, I was put at ease when I attended the network’s AGM in September 2019 and had the chance to meet so many welcoming and helpful members. I decided I wanted to take on a more active role within the Staff Pride Network by volunteering some of my time to help with the smooth running of things.

As your merchandise co-ordinator, I am a central point of contact for any Staff Pride Network members seeking to acquire some lovely SPN merch. This includes our classic rainbow lanyards, LGBT+ Ally rainbow lanyards, SPN posters, business cards and some environmentally-conscious recycled pens.

or send me an email: cathy.naughton@ed.ac.uk

Cathy Naughton




Committee Statement re Schools & Gender Diversity Event

In the interest of transparency this version of the blog has been updated since the original was circulated to our members on the 13th of November and this blog was initially posted here the 14th November 2019. The updates are intended to provide clarification on some of the concerns we have cited and new information that has come to light since the time of writing.

Dear Staff Pride Network Members,

An event entitled ‘Schools and Gender Diversity’ has gone live. The Committee are upset and disappointed that another event featuring external guest speakers with a history of transphobia (1) will take place on our campus.

The event is advertised as a research seminar though there is no clarity from the event description what research will be presented e.g. published research referenced or acknowledgement of research in progress that is funded with ethical approval. Details of the proposed speakers can be found in the event description. We are of course interested to hear objective, fact-based, pedagogic research on how best to support young transgender people in our schools. However from what we understand of the work conducted by Transgender Trend (the organisation that one of the proposed speakers is the founder of), they produced guidance for schools in England and Wales which has been resolutely denounced by Stonewall, stating, “It is a deeply damaging document, packed with factually inaccurate content”(2). We are concerned that the speakers at this event will provide a biased viewpoint on supporting schoolchildren. Challenges to these views will most likely have to come from the audience, or be posed by the chair of the event.

University senior management invited us to meet with a view to establishing ways in which to reduce the harmful impact of this event on the trans and non-binary community here at the University. They informed us that while the University does not necessarily endorse the views of the speakers at this event, it is however permitted given the University’s commitment to academic freedom and freedom of expression. They have indicated that they want to work with SPN, EUSA and PrideSoc student network to support trans and non-binary staff and students at this difficult time. Nonetheless we have made it clear that, without a statement to the opposite, the University will be seen as endorsing this event simply by hosting it on University premises and that the Staff Pride Network sees no way to make the event not harmful. We will continue to support staff and students with informative, unbiased events.

The event organiser has told the media that the SPN were invited to participate in this research seminar. In fact, they invited us to participate in an earlier version of this event, an ‘in conversation with’ event on this topic which was proposed as a balanced discussion. We understand LGBT Youth Scotland and Scottish Trans Alliance were also invited to that event and that they declined to participate because they would not share a platform with speakers who do not accept trans identities as valid, putting at risk the health and wellbeing of their staff. We agree with this stance and declined to participate in any event with these speakers. The SPN believes that an event cannot be respectful when the very foundation of that event is predicated on the denial that trans identities are valid.

We met with the secretary to the University compliance committee and they advised us that without balance the ‘in conversation with’ event, which was intended as a professional development event, would not be approved. This research seminar approved by the compliance committee appears to be the same event, with the same speakers as the previous proposed event, but without balance. At no point were we invited to participate in the research seminar. Due to the refusal of the organiser to host a different event, we are at initial stages of planning an event to explore the imminent Scottish Government guidance, to counteract misinformation, to include speakers who affirm trans people’s existence, not advocate the rolling back of hard-fought legal rights.

We believe that having external guest speakers with these beliefs at a University of Edinburgh sanctioned event contravenes the University’s commitment to Dignity and Respect(3) and Trans Equality(4) and these external speakers should not be allowed this space.

It does not “create a positive culture for our trans and non-binary students and staff where they feel supported and respected to live as their true selves”. Indeed, staff and students have told us they are considering leaving the University – and have since resigned – due to management appearing to endorse speakers such as these.

Kind regards,
Staff Pride Network Committee

1 We believe it is correct to say that the activity of the proposed external guest speakers constitutes a history of transphobia because they have publicly and repeatedly misgendered and dead named trans people, and cited trans identities as equivalent to pathology (something that is simply not the case). The work of the proposed external guest speakers encourages schools to deny trans children the right to self-identify and recommends trans children be discouraged from living as their true selves.

2 https://www.stonewall.org.uk/node/62946
3 http://www.docs.csg.ed.ac.uk/HumanResources/Policies/Dignity_and_Respect-Policy.pdf
4 https://www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/trans_equality_policy.pdf

 

UPDATE

From event organisers via Eventbrite:

“We are sorry to inform you that the research seminar on Schools and Gender Diversity has had to be postponed. We aim to re-schedule the seminar early next year.”

The Staff Pride Network Committee are relieved the event is not going ahead at this time and we are working with the University to provide a safe, inclusive environment for ALL staff and students to work and study.




LGBT+ Student Campaign

The LGBT+ Campaign is a space for any and all students who define as LGBT+ or with any other term that describes our community. The campaign aims to advocate for better student experience, provide community and support, and allow people to begin their own projects. Your elected officer (me!) and their (my!) committee is here to support you and ensure that your voice is heard at all levels of the University.

Please join the Facebook group to meet people with shared experiences, different backgrounds and interests.

You can also email me: lgbt@eusa.ed.ac.uk.

Rosie Taylor (EUSA LGBT+ Officer)




Visibility (or lack of)

Having decided to go to the event at the Parliament on 10th September to mark 50 years after the Stonewall riots, I was pleased to be asked to be one of the people to pass around the mics for the Q&A sessions. We had two main speakers, Nicola Sturgeon and Sir Stephen Wall. Both gave fascinating talks, and both fully included trans people in what they were saying. This is great but stirred up a few issues for me as a trans person. I was very visible when I transitioned. Now I am not. In many ways it is a privilege to have the relative safety that comes from this. And yet…….is what people see who I am?

This was highlighted after the event when it was discussed that the two mic handlers were not very diverse, being two white men. Yes, we are and yet that is not all I am, and it would be wrong for me to make any assumptions in that regard about my colleague. But that is what the world saw. There is a constant strangeness in that part of my life.

This means I tend to out myself at times. My gender identity is relatively male, but my experience of life is very much non binary. It is certainly not the same as cis men of my age. If I am getting to know people well, then I do mention being trans as my history is part of who I am. But I have also disclosed for safety. That sounds bizarre, doesn’t it? Why would it be safer? Well, if it’s not known I am trans then I do not have the protection of the Equality Act. I have found times of discrimination when I have realised someone who is a factor in that does know about my trans history and therefore it could be relevant to the problems.

Coincidentally, the day after the parliament event two trans male friends were chatting online about how they are both seen at work as cis allies – and the feelings this stirs up for them. We are at a point when society’s attitudes to trans people are becoming increasingly polarised. Sometimes people need to remember we are not ‘freaks’, just people getting on with out lives. We can even be the boring, middle-aged white bloke passing round the mic at an event.

Cameron Waddell