Priority Ballot for NUS LGBT Conference 2013

In the interest of transparency and accountability, here’s a quick writeup of how I currently plan to vote on behalf of York students in the priority ballot for LGBT Conference which closes tomorrow at midnight. The ballot determines the order in which motions will be discussed at Conference. While one person can’t perfectly represent the breadth of opinion held by all LGBT students at York, hopefully between the 4 of us attending we should be able to reflect that in how we vote. To my knowledge, York no longer has active policy on any of the matters under discussion except for tuition fees and mental health (which I’ve prioritised anyway).

Zone Priorities

1. 500 Welfare (10 Motions)
2. 400 Strong & Active Unions (12 Motions)
3. 300 Society & Citizenship (14 Motions)
4. 200 Education (5 Motions)
5. 100 Rules Revision (9 Motions)

My highly unscientific method for ordering the Zones was to mentally composite the top 3 Motions in each Zone (as I’d ordered them) and try to prioritise them as though they were 5 distinct Motions incorporating each of the pros and cons of their peers. Not sure I even agree with myself on some of the orderings, but there you go. Rules Revision received extra arbitrary minus points for (amongst other things) being Rules Revision. If I could have taken the first two motions from the Zone and saved them from the collective punishment of minimum priority, I would have done so in a heartbeat.

Motion Priorities

With a few notable exceptions, I tried (perhaps counter-intuitively) to avoid making judgements about what should be a priority for the campaign. Rather, I looked at the resolutions proposed in each substantive motion (mostly ignoring amendments, which are just a bonus prize) for signs that they demanded concrete, achievable action from the Campaign and its Officers. “Achievable”, unlike the stance adopted by the leadership at National Conference, does not mean “Easy” or “Convenient” – more that we’d know where to begin and that we’d have a fair idea of when we’d achieved something. Likewise, I did have an initial thought about how likely I would be to support the aims of the motion (though that’s clearly a matter for more consideration and consultation between now and next week).

Given the above, it should be slightly less surprising that I’ve deprioritised some Motions which, by their title, look like things that I’d knock down doors to achieve. If in doubt about why I’ve not prioritised something that you’d expected, it probably doesn’t call for big enough doors to be knocked down hard enough.

For motions where I have issues with some of the motion, or have some pertinent comment to make, I’ve added annotations in bold.

Motions: Welfare Zone

• 509 A refreshed HIV/AIDS campaign
• 504 Domestic and Sexual Violence in the LGBT Community
• 510 Step up on Mental Health
• 503 Stop with your pathologisation of our community
• 505 Lobbying of the GMC re: LGBT issues in “Tomorrow’s Doctors”
• 502 LGBT and Religion – Parts to remove CR5?
• 508 Support and visibility for LGBT and Polyamorous Students
• 507 We HATE Crime
• 506 Improve Gender Clinics
• 501 Our healthcare, now!

Motions: Strong & Active Unions Zone

• 411 Challenging racism and fascism on our campuses and in our communities – This has to be a priority. National Conference voted not to discuss anti-racist anti-fascist policy. Our liberation campaigns need to do the work that National Conference refuses to.
• 407 Keep Wednesday Afternoons Free (From Cissexism!) – I submitted this one. Wouldn’t have submitted it if I didn’t think it was a priority 😉
• 409 A Liberation League: Empowering prospective LGBT students, etc
• 403 Don’t let the local campaign die – Support the right to LGBT(+)
• 401 A More Representative, Feminist Movement
• 402 The Conference Attendee Toolkit
• 410 Destroy International Homophobia and Transphobia
• 406 NUS LGBT Activist Training Days
• 404 A trans+ inclusive feminism – My inner contrarian feels like it’s an insult to even discuss this. If the resolutions aren’t an inviolable consequence of our Campaign’s fundamental principles, we may as well all give up and go home. Failing to do any of these at an NUS event would be a breach of operational policy (Safe Space, Equal Opportunities), never mind a democratic mandate.
• 408 Trans Representation in the Student Movement – Undecided about this one (even though I may end up speaking for it). NUS research shows that trans students are overrepresented as Officers (vs cissexist underestimates of our prevalence, of course 🙂 )
• 405 Clearer Trans Policy in BUCS – Basically 407 with less concrete demands.
• 412 Say No to 0870! – Procedural Motion not to discuss? Has been coming up for a few years, continues to have barely tangential relevance to LGBT students.

Motions: Society & Citizenship Zone

• 305 Smash the Gender Recognition Act – Another of mine. Same applies as above 🙂
• 309 LGBT Young People in Care
• 306 Self Definition is the Only Definition
• 312 Tackling Transmisogyny: in our movement and the media
• 311 Support the small prides movement
• 304 Fund Education Not War – Scrap Trident, Scrap Fees
• 314 Inclusion of Non-Binary Trans* People within the NHS – Parts to remove CR2. Bad tactic.
• 308 Stronger Community Campaigns – Parts to remove CR2. Links with police will exclude vulnerable students who would otherwise want to be involved with LGBT societies.
• 302 Celebrating Pink Parents and Pink Families
• 301 Recognising non-binary gender identities – Lots of lobbying. The toolkit will be valuable, but the technical arguments have been won. We need to demand that our conclusions are implemented, not prolong those discussions.
• 303 [Untitled S’onewall Inclusion Motion] – Not convinced dragging Stonewall into the late 20th Century is a fantastic use of our energy. Doesn’t address the affect of LGB-only education on Trans children.
• 313 Lucy Meadows – Her family have asked for peace. There’s nothing else to be said.
• 310 Reclaiming Reclaim the Night – Refer to Women’s Caucus. Demanding entry to self-defining Women’s spaces is an attack on Women’s autonomy.
• 307 The 10 Billion Person Planet – No Platform for Fascists. We don’t need to “debate” eugenic arguments against reproductive rights. Bonus cissexist trans tokenism and cheap dig at the Catholic Church.

Motions: Education Zone

• 203 Protecting LGBT Students studying abroad
• 202 Free education is a right – Bring Back EMA!
• 204 Gender Neutral Titles
• 201 LGBT Access to Education
• 205 The anti-bullying & tolerance motion – Half want this discussed so that its racist premise can be thoroughly defeated. Half want to put my fingers in my ears and hope it goes away.

Motions: Rules Revision Zone

• 105 Increase representation for Black Women – Please do this.
• 108 Disabled Delegates at LGBT Conference – Please also do this.
• 104 NUS LGBT definition of Woman – Refer to Women’s caucus?
• 103 Bi Caucus Definition – Refer to Bi caucus?
• 107 Membership of Trans Caucus – Refer to Trans caucus? Honestly, I prefer it left unsaid.
• 102 Affordable Cost of Conference – Tiered pricing is divisive.
• 101 A+ for Inclusion – Name change motion? Drink!
• 109 Disabled students, mental health – 108 makes this redundant and allows the Disabled Students’ caucus to make its own decision on how it’s represented.
  
• 106 Create a Men’s Caucus – York students consistently oppose the creation of a Men’s Network and a Men’s Officer. No need to rehearse the arguments here again.

Please feel free to leave any thoughts below, or on Facebook and Twitter if that’s where you’ve followed the link from. I’ll be updating further on my voting and speaking intentions before and during Conference.