University of Manchester's own Finn McGoldrick is running for NUS LGBT Officer. After moving to England from Belfast Finn has been involved with the LGBT movement and student activism. She's been the women's rep on the NUS LGBT committee and looks forward using her skills and experience to bring new changes.
" I’m standing to shake things up and bring a new fresh approach to the NUS LGBT movement which empowers students and encourages more activism."
Why are you running?
I’m standing to become your LGBT Officer (women’s place) because I believe our movement can and should be better. The LGBT campaign means so much to me. From talking to students up and down the country, I know it means a lot to you too! LGBT Officers and students’ unions work incredibly hard organising everything from socials and events to petitions and protests. I know that by working together with the right support on a national level, we can achieve even more.
NUS LGBT is running more campaigns than ever, but involvement is declining. I want to revitalise our movement and rebuild it into something that all students can easily engage with and be a part of. That’s why I’ll create an online “activists’ hub” so that you can access resources easily, contact officers quickly and share your experiences and expertise.
I’m also standing because I am a passionate feminist and I want to see feminism placed at the centre of our movement, back where it belongs. I’ll make sure the LGBT voice is never shut out of the women’s campaign and will work closely with the NUS women’s, disabled and black officers to tackle liberation issues from all angles.
We need to reconnect with activists and make this movement innovative and empowering again. A vote for Finn is a vote for change, a vote to revitalise the LGBT campaign and a vote to put the power back into your hands. Because this movement is a place for all of us, we all deserve an LGBT movement we can be proud of, I'm standing because I want us to rebuild our movement and take the next step forward together
What LGBT issues do you particularly want to address?
There are so many issues facing the LGBT students at the moment. For me, the biggest stem from the government cuts, which are hitting LGBT communities disproportionately. If elected, I will make fighting the cuts a priority. I’ll do this not only through organising marches and protests but through lobbying and the use of innovate campaigns. I’ll also introduce a pledge for unions and institutions to protect their individual LGBT campaigns’ budgets.
Another priority for the forthcoming year should be to increase the number of LGBT representatives and societies we have across the country. These should be in every institution, whether they provide further or higher education and regardless of whether they be large or small. Like many people, I found coming out at university really difficult. Fortunately, my university had an active and supportive LGBT society, which really helped. Not every student has this experience and this needs to change. I would reach out to more students by setting up regional networks and pairing up institutions that have no active LGBT representation with those that do.
Tell us more about the campaigning you’ve been doing over the last few years?
Over the last few years I’ve been involved with a variety of campaigns, ranging from anti-cuts campaigns to feminist campaigns around body image and women’s involvement in politics. My passion has, however, always been around LGBT campaigns. The LGBT campaigns I’ve been involved in have all been inspirational and exiting in their own ways. I worked on the ‘Love without Borders’ campaign in Manchester, which encouraged students to share stories about themselves and their LGBT friends and on a postcard, which was then sent to the Ugandan embassy.
‘Schools Out’ is also an amazing campaign; I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to deliver workshops to pupils in schools around the issue of coming out and homophobic bullying. Going back into schools to talk about coming out was daunting, but quickly I realised how much of an impact us talking about being LGBT made and it was evident that we were making a concrete difference.
If you get in, what changes can we expect from LGBT NUS?
If elected, the first thing I would do is get in touch with all the LGBT societies and representatives and talk to them about their experiences and the changes they would like to see in the campaign.
The biggest change you should expect if I’m elected will be improved visibility of the campaign. Rather than waiting for students to find us, I want us to reach out to them. I think having more resources available online without password protection, making officers easier to contact and having activist forums are all great ways for us to do this. I’ll also be really keen to visit students’ unions to talk to them about a variety of issues, such as how NUS LGBT can help them set up an active society, increase women’s involvement or help them with any campaign they’d like to run.
Another big change will be in how we deliver activist training days. Previously, we had a ‘one size fits all’ approach where we expected unions and institutions to pay for activists to come to us. If elected, I would change this so that your national officers and committee can visit your institution or region and speak to you on topics which suit your needs.
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