Barry Griffiths

LGBT Officer

 Many of my heterosexual friends look at society and the media and ask me what gay people have to complain about these days. After all, section 22 was repealed years ago, we can start legally having sex at the same age as they can and we can even get married now if we want to. What more do we want? 

How long have you got?

The National Blood Service will no longer take donations of my blood because I am a man who has had sex with men, yet if I were to be hit by a bus on my way into University today the NHS would willingly transplant my organs into somebody else.

Civil partnerships may offer same-sex couples a ceremonial equivalent to civil marriage, but the legal rights bestowed upon civil partnerships are quite different to those given to married couples, especially if you look to travelling or moving overseas.

Trans people still face a disgustingly lengthy wait for the treatments they desperately need in order to live the life they deserve, and many doctors still fail to recognise their calls for help in the first place.

And closer to home students still face discrimination from parents, teachers and peers which can affect their chances to succeed at, or in some cases even come to, University.

So yes, things are a lot better now than they were twenty years ago but we've still got a long way to go. And whilst I'm sure I can't change the world in a year I'll do my best to fight Newcastle's corner and do what I can.

Having spent last year as the president of the LGBT Society - http://www.newcastlelgbt.co.uk/ - I'll be working closely with them in my new role so if you need to speak to me about any LGBT-related issues (or anything else Union-related for that matter) you can usually track me down at their socials. Otherwise I can always be contacted via e-mail (lgbt.officer@newcastle.ac.uk) or Facebook.