Recently we interviewed our very own UWS LGBTQIA+ Society to find out what its like being part of a society and how it can impact your university life.

Can you give a brief overview of what your society is and what it has been doing so far in the year?

The LGBTQIA plus society was founded in February 2023. I Guess it’s just to bring students together who don't have a safe space, might feel like they're alone in their studies, and to make that bridge between identity and education a bit clearer. so far this year, we've had our freshers’ events, we did our winter wonder week which was just a few social events to mark World AIDS Day, 16 days of activism and then just a movie night the other day. We also did our Halloween social which was in collaboration with a few other societies like the K Pop Society, the Programming Society and the Debate Society. It was Just to bring more students together to give them the space in the Union. Since the bar shut down, we’ve not really had that kind of space for students.

What has been the main kind of success of your society so far?

I think we've done a lot of good things with charity. We had Stonewall events, pride of music events and we’ve been having events to spread awareness on things like world Aids Day, International Women's Day. That’s where we shine the most, being able to have a group of people that are educated enough within certain topics to share the information.

What has been the biggest challenge faced by the society so far?

I think the biggest challenge for us is getting the balance between having that educational side but also making it a fun society where you can go out and have a distraction from uni, having that Community to build. This is especially true because we've had a few different leaders, it's always a bit of a challenge at the start of the year trying to get the grips of things and seeing how it's actually done, how you can change it or improve it.

What kind of impact does this have on your university experience?

For me, it's had a really good impact. It's probably one of the reasons I'm still in Uni. Sometimes Uni can get a bit stressful but then having something to look forward to, even if it can be challenging planning the events and getting everything organised, is very rewarding. It's a new thing. It's like a different challenge in comparison to, like, academic success. It's different feeling of pride when you do an event and it goes well.

How do you think your society can be better supported to achieve what it's trying to do?

I think it would help if we had different opportunities, like we've had a few opportunities in the past where we've been able to go into classes for the paramedic students and give them talks. I think it was last year we did a talk for what their patients would look like if they had HIV and AIDS to prep them for different situations. Opportunities like that are always nice because sometimes it feels like the liberty groups or the Women’s society or us can be put in a box until it’s our turn to be spoken to. There are some things that people may not thing to involve us in when we probably could have a good insight or put a different shine on.

What's been the most important benefit of being part of this society?

I think for me this year it’s been the trust that people put in me. There have been a few different scenarios where I’ve been trusted with information and I’ve had to escalate it, or I’ve been trusted to organise events. Its nice to be able to feel validated for the work you are doing. Also within the fact that people care enough to be able to say ok you can go do that and you know what you’re doing.

Do you have any other comments you would like to share or upcoming events you would like to talk about?

Well, we've got a big event in February which is our big fundraiser for our 3rd birthday! Yeah, we're getting old. We're also looking at doing a fundraiser for more local charities. Charities like LGBT health, which is in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and a few different other ones. It'll be like a drag night with lots of music. We're going to try and get a lot more local entertainment involved, just so that we can have that sort of community impact.

Why should new students join your society?

Our society isn't just for people who are in the community, it's also for people that want to learn about certain topics, people want to be allies and help support the community. Even if you've been here for a few years, even if you're new, I think being able to be in this society and see what change we're trying to strive for, what impact we're trying to strive for is important. I don't think people realise just how rife homophobia, transphobia and stuff like that are. Even if we've been trying to tackle it for years, it's still impacts so many students, and it's nice to be able to have people that aren't affected by it that still support you.

Thank you very much to Amy for giving some brilliant insight into society life!

If you want to learn more or fancy joining the film society, you can find them here: LGBTQIA+ Society
You can also check out our other amazing societies here: Find and join Societies