CEFA

We have redacted all names, leaving some job roles for clarity. You can find highlights of the most crucial extracts from these minutes here and minutes from meeting two are here: Friday 21st January 2022.

Meeting of LGBT+ Member Standing Committee

17th September 2021
Unconfirmed minutes Present [CM1]; [CM2]; [Chair]; [CM3]; [CM4]; [CM5]
In attendance, [Equality Support Official], [Equality Administrator] (Minutes)

1              Welcome and apologies for absence

[Chair] welcomed the committee members. Apologies were received from [CM6], [Vice Chair(VC)] and [CM8]

2              Minutes of meeting of 16 April 2021 

The draft minutes were AGREED as a true record.

3              Matters Arising 

Minute 4.3 – Two seats were due to be co-opted but as [Equality Support Official] was unwell following an accident, this was not progressed over the summer as scheduled. It was NOTED that members should be encouraged to get themselves nominated onto LGBT+ standing committee so that all 12 seats are filled. 

Minute 6.4 – [Chair] was due to attend a CPS meeting where transphobia as a hate crime was going to be discussed. It was unclear about the implications for transphobia and how it will affect trans women. [Chair] did attend the CPS meeting which discussed what CPS was doing around transphobia, transphobic hate crime and what more can be done to address this issue. CPS wanted to know from the attendees what they could do to address the issue but did not outline their capacity. CPS are making concerted effort of understanding transphobic hate crime but a lot more work needs to be done to address the issue of transphobia and transphobic hate crime.

4              Chair’s business

[Chair] is the HE NEC LGBT+ member and [VC] is the FE NEC LGBT+ member. It was NOTED that [Chair] is the chair of LGBT+MSC, as [VC] did not wish to be the chair. [CM8] is the vice chair of LGBT+MSC.

Two motions were submitted to NEC pertaining to LGBT+. They were proposed by [redacted]  and seconded by [Chair]. It was NOTED that the first motion was on Challenging LGBT+ Exclusion which looks at a report about LGBT+ exclusion in HE. The motion was passed. It was NOTED that the resolve included, in solidarity with trans and non-binary members, for NEC members to use pronouns in zoom meetings and to encourage members to use pronouns in online meetings and email signatures. 

The second motion related to the Maya Forstater employment tribunal and appeal case. The motion resolved in solidarity with trans members to resolve to reinstate UCU’s position of trans inclusion and increase efforts to provide practical support and policy guidance to equality reps and trans members in challenging the act of harassment and discrimination. 

It was AGREED that [Chair] will forward the full motions for circulation to the committee. LGBT+ issues are not discussed at branch meetings and UCU nationally can do more to ensure that LGBT+ issues are raised at meetings and support LGBT+ members. [Chair] gave an example of recently being invited to speak at Northumbria AGM. LGBT+MSC members can discuss what actions can be taken to improve visibility. It was NOTED that one member felt strongly that UCU nationally needs to ally and champion LGBT+ rights to improve visibility. 

[Chair] had submitted a motion to HEC on Making HE safe for trans and non-binary staff and students. This motion was not heard due to lack of time. [Chair] had written this motion to address reports of misinformation, some universities disaffiliating themselves from Stonewall, founding of gender critical research network specifically at one institution and transphobic violence in UK. The motion would have sent a message of support to HEC, Open University staff and students campaigning against the gender critical network and issued a strong statement in support of trans members. This motion may be re-submitted to HEC in future. It was NOTED that if members want any motions taken to HEC or FEC they should email [Chair] or [CM7]. 

It was AGREED to send an email to LGBT+ members to find out how many universities have disaffiliated from Stonewall. It was AGREED to send the following questions:

• Is your institution affiliated to a diversity champion scheme and has that affiliation changed in the last two years?

• Is your institution affiliated to any other LGBT organisations or accreditation schemes?

• To get more information a sentence could be added “do you have any further comments”.

• To get information about gender critical equality, diversity & inclusion consultants being employed in HR departments of various institutions a question can be included – “Are you aware of your institution employing EDI consultants in the sector and if so which ones”. 

The last question is to get information about how many HR and senior HR staff/consultants are gender critical and then to inform branches, so that they are aware of any problems which may arise in a particular branch. Some of the EDI consultants are transphobes and prominent gender critical activists. 

It was NOTED that [Chair] and [VC] will raise the issue of gender critical consultants being employed in certain institutions, at the next Equality Committee. It was AGREED to contact Stonewall to find out if they would give out information about the number of disaffiliations from HE and FE sector. 

[CM5] gave example of the transphobic measures being taken at her institution. At [CM3]’s institution, students who are trans, non-binary or gender diverse can discuss any issues with an allocated named contact, who are based in the student wellbeing service. If a student wants to change their name, get a new student card or change their details, they just need to tell their Student Wellbeing Advisor who will contact all the relevant departments. It was AGREED to bring institutional transphobia as an agenda item at the next meeting. It could include good practice for trans inclusion in institutions.

5              Committee Secretary’s report 

Several CPD training programmes have been delivered over the summer, in the regions, based on LGBT+ Language in Use guidance. There is a possibility of another CPD being developed, on heteronormativity and CIS gender. LGBT+ Research Conference has had a sizeable number of submissions for call to paper. Members of LGBT+MSC can now go as delegates as opposed to observers to Congress 2022, due to a rule change. LGBT+ Equality Conference will take place on 4 December.

6              TUC LGBT+ update  

As [CM6] was unable to attend this meeting, [Equality Support Official] gave a brief report. The TUC LGBT+ Conference will take place in June/July 2022. There have not been any committee meetings over the summer. TUC LGBT+ Committee did report that after the TUC about LGBT+ sexual harassment there have been moves to include such sexual harassment in law. All the press articles around Lyra Mckee’s murder have not mentioned that she was LGBT. If the jury are not aware of LGBT+ issues and judges are not trained in LGBT+ issues, this could have serious detrimental outcome in the case and justice will not be served. There was a suggestion to raise the issue with the Press Complaints Authority or CPS. 

It was NOTED that[Equality Support Official]  will raise the issue with [CM6] who can take it forward to the next TUC LGBT+ Committee meeting.

7              LGBT+ Members Conference   

The suggestions for the themes for the conference were:

• Experience of LGBT+ life in UK at present

• LGBT+ asylum seekers

• Invite speakers from the newly formed gender inclusion network to counter the gender exclusionary movements.

• Bisexual visibility and intersection with pansexual visibility. There was also a suggestion of intersex but there has been a speaker on this issue at a recent conference.

• The conference could look at safety and well-being in relation to neo-liberal agenda and the economic contraction, including the number of redundancies for LGBT+ staff and impact of having to move from individual offices into communal areas.

• In the UK Equality Act there is an exemption which allows religious organisations to discriminate against LGBT+ people but the Republic of Ireland has removed that exemption. To campaign for the exemption to be removed from the UK’s Equality Act should be on UCU’s national agenda.

• Some work around silence as an instrument of homophobia is an area which needs to be developed. It was AGREED to have the broad theme of experiences of LGBT+ life in UK and encompass issues outlined above within that theme. Suggested speakers included:

• Shon Faye who has written a book entitled The Transgender Issue – An Argument for Justice which is a good reframing discussion point around trans issues.

• Natasha Kennedy and Sally Hines who are chairing the Gender Inclusion network.

• Christian Kless at MMU works on bisexuality, social movements and migration study.

• Lukasz Szulc a lecturer at University of Sheffield is a Polish academic who has worked on a project about Polish LGBTQ+ experience in UK. He has touched on topics including identity formation, relationship to being British & European, national identity and impact of post Brexit. 

It was NOTED that [CM3], [CM4], [CM5] and [CM8] terms expire at this conference. They can all stand again.

8              Motions Update    

Pre-2021 Action from pre-2021 motions were noted. It is important to keep a track on who is monitoring that LGBT+ is part of educational curriculum and being taught in schools. In order to end homophobia, it is important to know what is being taught about LGBT+ issues and how it is being taught. It is important to work with NEU on this issue. 

It was AGREED that [Chair]  will contact and work closely with NEU LGBT+ reps. Motion Review 2021 

It was AGREED for [Equality Support Official]  to work with LGBT+MSC to action the motions and amendments, which LGBT+MSC put forward and were passed at Congress 2021. 

It was AGREED that [Chair] and [VC] will take HE and FE motions to HEC and FEC. Following the success of Language in Use CPD, [Equality Support Official] has been working with the training officer to develop a training programme on heteronormativity and CIS normativity, its impact on LGBT+ people and how it can be challenged. 

Trans EDU have done great deal of work to promote trans rights. In 2017 Dr Stephanie Mckendry and Dr Matson Lawrence at University of Strathclyde conducted research on experiences of transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people in universities and colleges. Following the research, they have developed open-access resources, guidance and training materials for post-secondary education sector which can be accessed through the website. 

[CM3] and [redacted] are co-chairs of the Trans Edu Community of Practice and they meet around three times a year. It is a mix of colleagues from HE and FE and students are encouraged to come along as well. It is a forum to share good practice or raise issues happening in specific institutions. Recently the forum developed guidance for academics to support trans and non-binary students for on-line teaching. They are considering developing guidance around return to campus and the anxiety which that will entail. UCU branches in Scotland have used Trans EDU resources to support them to produce Trans policies and guidance.

It would be useful to get LGBT+ equality addressed in generic training for equality reps, in order to engage with reps who may be indifferent or hostile to LGBT+ people.

9             Progressing LGBT+ Equality and Liberation at Branch Level    

[Chair] is in the process of setting up a regional LGBT+ network which will be a social/informal meet up. A meeting has been set up with one of the Regional Support Officials to discuss how to move forward in setting up the network. 

It was that NOTED [Chair]  will report back to the committee how this process has worked and if successful, it could be a useful model for other regions. Some branches are inactive and it falls on a few active individuals to raise LGBT+ and other equality issues. In one institution equality reps from all unions across the campuses have been meeting on a monthly basis, which was expanded to anyone interested and this has drawn more people. As a result, the institution is going to focus on LGBT+ issues as part of the Equality and Diversity brief. It has not been confirmed what will happen practically and it is hoped that not just an action plan is developed with limited action. Sheffield Hallam had a positive policy change recently. A rule change about specifically including Gender Identity in UCU rules was passed at Congress 2021. This having initially come from a branch and then to LGBT+MSC. This was partly in response to concern people had in terms of what UCU’s rules actually said around gender and gender identity. This initially arose from an institution in response to a prominent transphobic element in that branch and people wanting to organise against that. It is important to ensure that local level issues can be taken to the national level.

10             Standing Items

i. Prides It was AGREED to defer the stall for Birmingham Pride to 2022.

ii. International

iii. Brexit It was AGREED to merge Brexit into the International section. There were no further updates for any of the standing items below:

iv. Monitoring

v. Chartermarks

vi. Bi-visibility

11             Any other business

It was AGREED to include LGBT+ life in UK today as a standing item.

12             Date and time of next meeting

21 January 2022