Supporting students who are unable to come out
Wednesday 31-01-2018 - 20:05
Durham student Ted Lavis Coward has submitted a motion to the NUS LGBT+ Conference, which has been announced this week as taking second priority at the conference taking place on the 7-8 March 2018. You can read the motion here.
The motion challenges the potentially privileged viewpoint that it is always best for LGBT+ students to come out. This is a narrative often promoted by universities, particularly through celebrations of National Coming Out Day that put pressure on LGBT+ students to come out.
While for some, coming out can be a cause for celebration, for people from particular backgrounds, including international students for whom identifying as LGBT+ is illegal in their home country, it can be damaging and even dangerous. For some, coming out leads to estrangement from their family, as demonstrated by the fact that young LGBT+ people make up around 24% of the youth homeless population in Britain.
Ted’s motion aims to encourage higher education and further education institutions to be more welcoming to students who are unable to come out. It aims to encourage LGBT+ groups to be inclusive of allies, bearing in mind that some straight or cisgender-presenting allies may in fact identify as LGBT+, just not openly.
It is important that people who are unable to come out still have access to a supportive community without having to make public their identity. And if Ted’s motion gets passed in March, it will be a positive step forward in creating a more inclusive environment for all LGBT+ students.
