The 14th Ordinary meeting of the 166th Session of the Literific took place on the 4th of February in the Senate Room and was attended by 37 members. Presidents Questions were heard from Miss Rosie Waterson, Miss Emma Chadwick, Mr Oran Kennedy, Miss Sophie Stratfull and Miss Marie-Louise Synnott. The House was treated to a game of just three minutes, the motion being ‘This House Would Get Drunk’ with an opening argument from the Honourable President of the SU asking ‘Why would we get drunk when we could get off our face on smack?’. Mr Robbie Whitehurst was our victor, who narrowly beat Miss Chadwick to victory, by carefully timing the contest on his phone…. A fierce debate over the legitimacy of his win continued in the bar afterwards.
After a few announcements Madam President Pouryahya opened the evenings debate, announcing the motion ‘THB LGBT neglects the T’.
Miss Ellen Murry opened the case for the proposition by stating the ‘in’ joke that the T in LGBT is silent. She argued that members of the LGB community suffer some of the same discrimination as those in the transgender community but that the later struggled more to obtain legal protection. She stated the need for specific health care services for the community and brought to the houses attention, some legislation which is little known but is reason for outrage, for example the demand for any member of the trans community to be sterilised before the EU grants that person recognition. Miss Murry argued that in many LGBT campaigns, such as the present anti-gay blood ban campaign, ignores the needs of the trans community. She also stated that straight transgender people are sometimes rejected by the LGBT community and that gender recognition is outdated. She concluded by reminding the house that the trans community is under represented and is known to be in need of resources, funding and governmental recognition.
Mr Peter McCormack then opened the case for the opposition by stating that discrimination is born out of misinformation and that it should be a priority for the LGBT community to provide the public with information in order to combat this. He concluded with the thought that trans people often get left out, but that that was perhaps proportionate to the size of the community itself.
Miss Emma Chadwick then continued the case for the proposition by stating how glad she was that this debate was taking place given how important this issue is and that she believed that the LGBT community needs to be able to reach its full potential. She argued that not enough information was public knowledge, that discrimination was a case of ignorance, not genuine hatred. She stated that to neglect someone was to care care fully or properly for them, something which the trans community undoubtedly face. She cited the increased likelihood of homelessness in the trans community, and the 48% rate of suicide attempts. She concluded by saying that the fact that these statistics are so little known, proves the neglect that the trans community faces.
My Stephan Iwaniski then closed the case for the opposition by arguing that its actually the Q and plus community which is neglected in LGBTQ+. He argued that trans gender community members ares specifically the problem, rather the breadth of the group. LGBT is just too big an umbrella to properly serve everyone under it. He argued that LGBT people do need support, but contended that they are represented already. He concluded by saying that there is a need to work from the bottom up, that the LGB needs to be sorted out first, before they are able to worry about the needs of the trans people in the community.
The debate then moved to the floor where questions were heard from Mr Graeme Rice, Mr Niall Rourke, Miss Natasha Jane Clark, Miss Rosie Waterson and Mr James McNaney. A provisional vote based of members opinion was taken which read 21 ayes, 0 nays, 13 abstaining. A casting vote was then taken based on speakers performance, which decided the fate of the evenings motion. The Motion passed with 16 ayes, 0 nays and 2 abstentions.