Archive for February, 2010
Just to let any new members know that I will be in Quay Co-op from 6:15pm if any new members would like to come in and meet me or ask questions about the society before it starts at 7pm. I will be in the upstairs room (above the restaurant area) so feel free to buy yourself a coffee/tea or some delicious food from downstairs and come up! Other members or those of you who don’t know where the Quay Co-op is can meet at the Student Centre in UCC at 6:45pm and walk in with the rest of the people! Laura (Membership Development Officer).
February 23 2010 | Events | No Comments »
Dear members,
This is just a reminder that we are still running our Buddy System campaign. We are running this all year and it is never too late to join the society. All of us on the committee can appreciate that it can be a bit daunting for some new members to come along to their first LGBT meeting, especially those of you who don’t already know members in our society or have a friend to come along with. For this reason, we wanted to reach out and let you know that we have a Buddy System in place as a support for new members.
Many members have used this system so far and the Buddy System is a great way to get acquainted with one or two of our existing members so that you will know someone at the first meeting you attend. We also offer support to members who are coming out and can provide useful information to members on sources of support in both UCC and Cork for LGBT people. As Membership Development Officer, I would be happy to meet any of you who would like to avail of the Buddy System for a tea/coffee and a little chat or if you would prefer I can assign you another buddy from our committee. We are a very inclusive society and wish to be as accommodating as we can for our new members.
If you would like to avail of our Buddy System or if you have any questions about it or about the society itself, feel free to email me at any time at our society email address: lgbt@uccsocieties.ie – confidentiality assured.
All the best,
Laura (UCC LGBT Membership Development Officer).
February 20 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
Hiya,
Just to let anyone who is interested know, LinC (Lesbians in Cork) are starting up Mental Health training soon. It is open to everyone male and female and I’d encourage you all to go. There is an introduction night in the Other Place on North Main Street next Tuesday at 7pm.
Following that there will be a 5 week course if anyone is interested. I would really encourage you to come Tuesday – particually anyone interested in running for next year’s committee as we are trying to ensure mental health awareness continues to be important to the LGBT society.
I will be there myself on Tuesday, and if anyone wants more information contact linc at info@linc.ie
See ya soon
Michelle
February 19 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
Hello Everyone,
I hope you are all having a lovely week!
Below is a link to a survey I compiled during the week for our members. It would
be really helpful if all of you could fill it out as it will provide us with
information on our members’ needs and what could be done to improve the
society in the future! Just bear in mind that some questions are
specifically for UCC students and most questions are directed at the LGBT
members rather than our heterosexual members. The survey is open to all of
our members though and we would love to hear your feedback! It is completely
confidential and anonymous. Check it out anyway and let me know if there are
any problems with it – just paste it into the toolbar if it doesn’t direct
you automatically!
http://www.surveybob.com/surveybob/s/b3f1e655-7777-43b2-9de1-57b01d4365bb.html
As always, if any of you have any questions about the society, wish to use
the Buddy System or need information on local LGBT sources of support,
please feel free to email me in confidence at lgbt@uccsocieties.ie
Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply so far!
Also, in feedback so far we noticed that a lot of our members were reluctant to come to meetings alone. Feel free to drop me a line if you want to go for coffee and meet someone in person so there’s a friendly face at the next meeting! That’s exactly what I’m here as MDO for. It’s definitely not too late in the year to get involved!
Slán and take care,
Laura (UCC LGBT Membership Development Officer).
February 19 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
Just so you know – we got 600 signatures in under 3 hours on campus during Rainbow Week in support of full civil-marriage equality for same-sex couples. We also distributed leaflets letting students know why the proposed Civil Partnership Bill is a disgrace and gives only a 1/3 of the rights pertaining to marriage.
We will be contacting every TD in the Dáil in the next week to inform them of our finding and urge them to address this issue. We urge all our members to inform family and friends about this huge inequality if they can as many people who are not directly affected have no idea how discriminatory this is. Also anyone who feels they are able to- please contact your local TDs as part of MarriagEquality’s “Out to you TD” Campaign.
http://www.marriagequality.ie/action/contacttd/
Get involved in change!
Your Campaigns Officer,
Cian
February 19 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
The Blood Ban is so gay!
I mean in a country which is short of blood, rejecting blood from 5-10% of it’s male citizens makes no sense. Men who have sex with men (ever!) are currently given a life-time ban. So hypothetically you could get 2 male virgins who are each other’s one and only’s banned from ever giving blood the minute the sleep together yet their straight friend who goes out every Saturday night and brings a different girl home receives no such ban.
Certain sexual practices are undoubtedly more risky but why not base a ban on a real risk such as sexual practices (safe vs. unsafe) as opposed to sexual orientation? It reeks of a different era where people thought HIV/AIDS was “the gay plague” without any real understanding of how it was transmitted. Thankfully medical knowledge has moved on, and the majority of my gay/bi friends are among the safest in the sack. Lets hope the IBTS catch up with medical advances and reality!
Keep an eye on UCC Express for my article on this and a report of Padraig’s experiance of trying to give blood.
Your angry First Year Rep
Tiarnan
February 19 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
The Runner Up Is: Genevieve
And the Winner Is: Sean!
February 18 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
Hi Folks
So it’s almost that time of year (wow could I have started with a cornier cliché?)
We will be holding our AGM on March 10th – venue and time to be confirmed. There will be all the committee positions up for grabs along with the possibility of some very slight constitutional amendments for you to vote on (don’t worry they won’t be as complicated as the Lisbon!)
I’d personally encourage anyone considering running for a position to give it a go. I sort of fell onto the committee initially (cleverly and undemocratically avoiding the election process) and can honestly say my college experience would not have been the same without it. Most of my best memories of college come from the times I’ve had on the committee (wow really with the corniness today! Feel free to verbally slap me!) Anyway have a think about what you want to run for, talk to people doing that job already and find out all you can!
Keep the 10th free and remember to come vote for next year’s committee!
Your Loving Auditor (but not for much longer!)
Michelle
February 18 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
So Raise and Give Week is under way – I hope everyone’s having fun!
Unfortunately due to the extremely late appearance by the sound engineer we had to call off the joint event we had planned with International Development Society (a performance by the finalists of UCCs Got Talent) today. I have to say I was a bit disappointed as UCC’s Got Talent was probably my favourite event of the year 
However we’re looking forward to our Rainbow Treasure Hunt on Wednesday. For anyone who’s wondering just what the heck a Rainbow Treasure Hunt is (and perhaps if I’ve finally lost it!) – come along to just outside the doors of coffee dock in the ORB well before 8.30 to discover it and have a great time (hopefully 
) We have some pretty quirky and exciting prizes and entry is just 2 euro so it should be a fun event!
The charities that will benefit are Vincint de Paul, The Life Centre, Haiti and Our Lady’s Childrens’ Hospital Crumlin. make sure to bring your friends and get them to take part also as we want to do as well for the charities as we can 
We’ll be heading to Freakscene’s 60′s and 80′s party afterwards anyone who is interested in coming along. (Inevitably I’ll be looking like an escaped fashion convict from the 80s at the hunt!)
See you all there!
Michelle
February 09 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
February 02 2010 | Events | No Comments »