The focus of our meeting last Tuesday (22^nd October) was our LGBT Rights campaign.  This is the first of our campaigns running over the 2013/14 academic year and includes a specific focus on Russia.

Why Russia? Increasing violence towards the LGBT community and repressive new laws have significantly infringed LGBT rights there.  Despite being a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights the country seems to be moving away from the values of tolerance and open-mindedness that underpin the treaty.  In 2007 Russia was selected to host the 2014 Winter Olympic games.  Amnesty is concerned that the IOC has failed to preserve the Olympic ideal and see the detrimental effects of the discriminatory legislation.  Russia is not alone.  From Iran to Cameroon, many countries are experiencing a deteriorating LGBT Rights situation.

On this note, Dom and I (Ali) started off the meeting with a presentation outlining LGBT Rights around the world. Did you know that:

• more than half of the world’s countries either directly oppose LGBT Rights or are unwilling to give recognition to them?
• transgender people still have to undergo sterilisation before their gender is recognised in many European Countries?
• in Nigeria a law was recently passed outlawing same-sex marriage, punishable with a 14-year prison term?

A big thanks to Josh from Amnesty Scotland who also talked about the campaign.

After the presentation everyone got stuck into banner decorating.  This was for our ‘Love is a Human Right’ Jamnesty gig which will be held on Wednesday 20th November. The banners look really impressive and it was especially good to see new members getting painty!  Meanwhile Rob was overseeing the photo campaign. Check out the updated pictures below.  A small group then headed off to the Glasgow University Union to get their committee involved in this element of the campaign. As of Thursday we also have GUSA!

Finally, a few members headed into town after a quick bite of pizza to see the play Cured.  The production was especially commissioned for the Glasgay festival: Scotland’s annual celebration of LGBT Culture. Inspired by real accounts of conversion therapy, two performers, Julie Hale and Mary Gapinski, uncovered the stories of four women dealing with the treatment’s effect.  Cured really complimented the campaign, highlighting the stigmatization of many who consider themselves L, G, B or T.  Despite dealing with serious issues both actresses got laughs throughout. Make sure you don’t miss out if the production runs again!

Hope to see everyone on Tuesday.

Ali