LGBT students have a variety reasons for wanting to join an LGBT group. Three reasons often given are:

1. Social: when students first come out, they may be looking for somewhere to meet other LGBT students. An LGBT group is often the place where LGBT students make friends when they first arrive at university or college.
2. Support: when someone is having a hard time coming out they may turn to the LGBT group for support and/or advice.
3. Campaigning: many people will join your society looking to campaign against homophobia, heterosexism and other forms of discrimination.

It’s best to try to keep a balance between these factors. A group that is just a social club can become cliquey and inaccessible to new members. Similarly it’s important to keep the social and support side as well as running campaigns and initiating discussion.

Getting funding

If you are in a further education  (FE) college without union sponsored societies you may wish to approach your own students’ union or student services to get their support and assistance with finding resources. You can also contact NUS LGBT Campaign on 0871 221 8221 for advice.

Most universities and higher education (HE) colleges have union funded clubs or societies. Your union officer should be able to give you a list of society rules. Common ones include a minimum number of members, handing over a list of members, allowing any member of the students union to join, writing a constitution, and electing named officers.

Obviously some of these rules will be difficult for LGBT societies. Your members will probably want names and contact numbers kept confidential and you should limit membership to those who define as lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans. NUS LGBT urges all unions  to allow LGBT society lists to be kept confidential and to accept just the list of society officers. Your union should be able to give you a model constitution on which to base your group’s constitution. If they can’t, please contact NUS LGBT for help.

Freshers’ fairs
Freshers’ fairs are useful events at which to promote your LGBT group and attract new members. Ask your union to include a section on LGBT freshers' in their handbooks. They should let you have a stall for free and you can advertise at the event with leaflets. You should have a large clear sign on the stall telling students how to contact you (a memorable email address, like lgbt@youruniversity.ac.uk, is best and can, in most cases, be set up by your students' union) and where the first meeting will be. 
 

Organising the first meeting
Once your society/group has been set up, you can hold your first meeting. To guarantee good attendance, you could:

• Hold the meeting in a room that people can go to inconspicuously. You should also try to ensure that the meeting (especially the first one) is at suitable time and place for LGBT parents. Could you run a crèche or run the meeting at a time when the college crèche is still going? Make sure the room has disabled access.
• Advertise all over the campus and make sure posters and leaflets are clear so people can see at a glance when the meeting is. Some good places to advertise are: campus radio, union newspaper, notice boards in college departments, toilets, clubs/bars, halls of residence notice boards. Use posters, leaflets, stickers and the union website.
• Contact all other union societies and request that they pass on LGBT society information to their members.
• Make sure your advertising appeals to all sections of the LGBT community. You might want to advertise in a variety of languages for students whose first language is not English.
• Make your first meeting as interesting as possible!

Electing officers
At the first meeting you will need to elect a certain number of officials. Positions you should elect at the first meeting are likely to be: chair, secretary, treasurer, and women’s officer.

The women’s officer post is vital as LGBT groups can be male dominated. You could also have co-chairs, one guaranteed to be a woman. When your group has grown or members feel more confident to take on positions, you might want to elect an LGBT committee to carry out work for the group.

It is a good idea to reserve a certain number of places on this committee for women and for black students to ensure representation. You should leave the elections to the end of the meeting, so people have a chance to get to know each other first.
 

Ideas for the first meeting

• An icebreaker: these are a fun way to get people talking
• An introduction to the local scene: where to go and what places are like. You could give out a contact list of local groups and switchboards
• Invite an outside speaker, e.g. from the NUS LGBT Campaign or another organisation
• Show a video
• Have a discussion about campaigning ideas for the term, e.g. protesting about a local MP, supporting a national campaign, planning a regular LGBT stall with petitions, leaflets, stickers, etc.

Make sure you leave time for elections and arrange a good social, as well as times and dates for future meetings. It is good to have the LGBT group meetings at a regular time and place each week.

Running an awareness week

Many LGBT societies organise awareness weeks during the academic year. They can be a useful way to motivate and re-energise your LGBT group, to let the community at large know you exist, to promote your existence to LGBT students (especially those who are not involved or ‘out’), and to campaign around specific issues that concern your group.

When should we run our awareness week?

Avoid the first, last and second to last week of term. You need to make sure you won’t clash with other events, but you could also think about working with other societies on joint events (e.g. sexual health week). Find out what other LGBT groups are doing in your region and think about organising a regional awareness week so that you can pool resources and run bigger and better events. Also think about national events you could tie in with such as LGBT History Month (February).

How do we go about it?

• Planning: Get a group of people who are interested in co-ordinating the week together and meet up regularly to plan it. Give yourselves deadlines to work to and stick to them. Make sure everyone is aware of who is responsible for what.
• Funding: Approach your college executive if you don’t have your own budget or it won’t cover the cost of your awareness week. Put together proposals and costings beforehand and work out how much to ask for. Approach local health promotion organisations and NUS for free materials. Share costs with other societies and groups, perhaps at other colleges. If you need to raise funds, try
  a disco or cabaret benefit, a raffle or collection in and around campus, local bars, pubs and clubs, or selling advertising on your publicity or in mailings or leaflets.
• Publicity: Use stickers with slogans such as Out, Bisexual, Proud; Access All Areas; Stamp out Homophobia; Give Blood Because Gay and Bisexual Men Can’t; Give Us The Goods. Contact the media to advertise your event. Email lgbt@nus.org.uk with details of your awareness week and we can send out an email to all LGBT students on our mailing list.
• Don’t forget: Book your venues, DJ’s equipment and transport well in advance. Draw up rotas for distributing publicity, staffing stall and phone-lines, etc. Make sure you have chairs and speakers for meetings, facilitators for workshops, and lots of pens and paper. Organise a PA system for large meetings, check disabled access and arrange special facilities (signers, large print documents etc.) where appropriate.
• Be realistic: Remember constraints of time, money and people. Ask for help from the NUS LGBT Campaign. Afterwards, evaluate and learn from any mistakes.

What should we do?
Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Stalls with books/postcards/t-shirts from your nearest LGBT bookshop on a sale or return basis and leaflets from national and local campaigns, switchboards and clubs.
• Press stunts: balloon release, kiss-in, leaping out of a huge closet, abseiling, etc.
• Exhibitions/displays on the history of the LGBT movement, LGBT people in the media, recent successes for the movement such as the Civil Partnerships Act and the first adoptions. Use leaflets, posters, press cuttings and magazines.
• Workshops/discussions on bisexuality, HIV/AIDS, disability, racism, and LGBT parenting. Invite a local organisation to take part.
• Organise action. If you have a local MP or well-known person who is homophobic, take a group down to his/her surgery and hold a picket. You could also do this with businesses that are known to discriminate against LGBT people. Remember to invite the local press/radio/TV.
• Joint meetings with women’s groups, Amnesty, Christian Union, international/overseas students, local community groups.
• Debates open to all students and staff on subjects such as the National Blood Service ban, LGBT History Month and faith issues for LGBT people. Invite guest speakers, for example from the NUS LGBT Campaign and Stonewall.
• ‘What’s my line?’ - invite student or local political groups to give their line on LGBT rights. 
• Union general meeting - put motions about LGBT equality on the agenda.
• Video/films at your union or local cinema.
• Discos/socials: parties; 60s and 70s discos, karaoke, world music, cabaret, giant games. Have a fundraiser for your group or for a local/national cause. N.B. if you use strobe lights at a disco, state this on the door. Remember to provide soft drinks for those who can’t or don’t drink.
• Outings - run a trip to the seaside or the country, go ten-pin bowling or ice-skating, play rounders or football, or have a picnic.
• Roadshow - take your stall/leaflets/posters on a tour of halls of residence, flats, other sites, departments, local events and venues.
• Safe room/phone-line - provide a safe space for people to ‘come out’ and have a chat. Provide refreshments, biscuits, music and information. Try to use a room that’s accessible, but not in a busy place. Ask your local LGBT switchboard or nightline to give you basic training in listening skills, or just be friendly and let people know what’s going on in your union or town. Always have two people in the room for support and make sure one of them is a woman.

Who should we aim all this at?

• LGBT students (especially those who are not involved or ‘out’)
• Under-represented groups in your LGBT such as women, black students, disabled students  or trans students…and students involved in your atheletics union!
• The wider community – to let them know you’re there and to provoke debate.

For more advice about running awareness weeks, please contact the National LGBT Officers, who will also be able to put you in touch with your regional representatives on LGBT Committee.