Preconceptions

Hey there! It's Dan again! In my blog entries, I want to show and write about various LGBTQ artwork that I find, perhaps sometimes with some sort of theme to go with it, so I'm not just just showing random pieces of artwork for the heck of it! It also means that there are lots of pictures in my blogs, and not much reading, which I know will appeal to some people!

This time, I wanted to write a blog with the theme of preconceptions. Or stereotypes, or prejudices, if you prefer! Or rather; I'll write about how silly they often can be!

http://remnantxxx.deviantart.com/art/Homosexual-acts-performed-here-177154085?q=boost%3Apopular+max_age%3A744h+lgbt&qo=55

Like this photo, shown at the top of the page. I know I wanted to hit myself for the first thought that popped into my head when I saw the sign "Homosexual Acts Performed Here". But really, it's a brilliant demonstration that gay people act just like everyone else, and it's mearly only a small aspect of their life which is different to anyone else's. And I love it, I think it's a brilliant demonstration! It's suprising how many people probably haven't thought of homosexual acts in this way!

http://broken-pencil-lead.deviantart.com/art/Yes-I-m-Gay-But-Poster-II-175008946?q=boost%3Apopular+max_age%3A24h+gay&qo=1

http://broken-pencil-lead.deviantart.com/art/Yes-I-m-Lesbian-But-182012053

These are two pieces of art with a similar message. They are the same sort of thing: one is a gay man describing themselves, and the other is a lesbian. I think that it shows that even if someone’s gay or lesbian, they’re still individuals, and all have their own traits! Stereotypes of gay people exist for a reason: they must be true to some extent! But no-one should feel like they should conform to these stereotypes, or similarly, there’s no need to avoid them purely to not be associated with other stereotypes! I think that the simplest thing to do is accept yourself as you are (as corny as this is) and not worry about this sort of thing, or let it influence you too much!

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=gay+gender+is+is+not#/d2w4346

Katrin, the female rep, has discovered this piece before! I think this is a great summary which I think might help some people! The subject of gender, and the fluidity (for lack of a better word) of it, isn’t a subject I’d ever considered until recently! I’d be interested to see how accurate people think this demonstration of gender is, and whether some people can relate to their description of gender! Or whether people have different ideas on it altogether! But I think that the main idea of this piece, that it is something that one chooses for themselves, is a great one to have.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I think that some of what I've posted are actually quite thought provoking, and it would be cool to hear if anyone has any comments to add! :D

Dan. :)

Spirit Day

Well I figured that starting with Spirit Day would be a nice way to begin writing my blog entries!

To start with, a small introduction! I'm Dan Griffin, the Resource Manager on the LGBTQ committee, and I'm studying maths here at Exeter. Since I am but a lowly mathematician, I'm not very good at reading and writing! So you'll have to deal with my meager literary skills! :P

You may have realized that a couple of days ago was Spirit Day: http://www.glaad.org/spiritday . It was created as a day to raise awareness of LGBTQ bullying that goes on, and to get people to remember and show their support to people who are suffering, or have taken their lives because of bullying and homophobia, by spreading the word and wearing purple! (I don't have any purple clothes, but I wore some purple socks! Lame I know!) I'm not going to dwell on this sort of thing in my posts because I find it too upsetting a topic, but I hope to have many more happy and motivating things to show you in my posts!

http://chaoticmiko.deviantart.com/art/C-183383479?q=&qo=

As a hobby, I also draw lots of artwork, and have a gallery on a site called deviantART, and they also had a huge event for Spirit Day! I thought it was really nice! There's a whole gallery of nice uplifting artwork, and people showing their support for the cause, and I browsed through it and picked out a few of my favorites to show you that I thought were worth sharing!

http://kon-memoirs.deviantart.com/art/NOH8-183502658?q=boost%3Apopular+in%3Aprojects%2Fawareness%2F2010%2Fspiritday+max_age%3A24h&qo=116

I love the message in this picture! I think it's just the sort of thing which people who've had a rough time in their life need to hear! There really is a world full of lovely and accepting people and sometimes it just takes time before people can find this out for themselves!

http://hazza-6660.deviantart.com/art/Love-is-blind-Spirit-Day-183504301?q=boost%3Apopular+in%3Aprojects%2Fawareness%2F2010%2Fspiritday+max_age%3A24h&qo=7

I think this piece gives a message that everyone should be able to understand. It's very simple, but still meaningful! Love is blind: so it shouldn't be influenced by something trivial like gender. I think it's a nice way to think about the matter!

http://aranwen.deviantart.com/art/Purple-Rose-Ring-1-183509495?q=boost%3Apopular+in%3Aprojects%2Fawareness%2F2010%2Fspiritday+max_age%3A24h&qo=8

I bet this would have been a great accessory to wear with purple on Spirit Day!

http://tuinen.deviantart.com/art/The-Purple-Knight-183536565?q=boost%3Apopular+in%3Aprojects%2Fawareness%2F2010%2Fspiritday+max_age%3A24h&qo=137

Well this drawing doesn't have a huge amount of meaning: it's just plain cool!

http://kt-pl.deviantart.com/art/it-s-spirit-day-183310637?q=boost%3Apopular+in%3Aprojects%2Fawareness%2F2010%2Fspiritday&qo=85

And this picture relates to another project which I completely adore! The "It gets better" project! http://www.youtube.com/user/itgetsbetterproject . It's a brilliant cause that's worth sharing if you hadn't heard of it before, it involves a variety people making videos aimed towards anyone who's had a tough life so far dealing with their sexuality, and reassuring them that it gets better!

I hope you enjoyed my first blog entry! I'll be doing more of a similar sort of nature in the future: sharing things I find which I think are nice, motivating or uplifting, or sharing artwork that I've found and particularly enjoyed!

Dan. :)

Welcome to the LGBTQ for 2010-11!

Welcome to the LGBTQ for 2010-11!

Hey everyone! Now, we’ve wanted to write a little intro-blog for you guys, passing from one year to the next, so here goes!

On behalf of myself and Katrin, the Male and Female Reps (respectively… of course…) and of the rest of the committee, I just wanted to welcome you to a fabulous new year at the University of Exeter, LGBTQ-style! And here’s a rather apt place to give a huge welcome, and a humongous thanks to our new committee!

This year we’ve not only got countless exciting things for you all to look forward to, but at the end of the last academic year and over the summer we’ve been working on some little behind-the-scenes planning to hopefully deliver an LGBTQ out of which you can get more of what you want! I won’t give too much away yet though...

The good news is that we pride ourselves on being one of the few societies that has never charged a membership fee – and we’re still proud to offer you all the new and all the old, absolutely free!

All in all, we’re going to make every effort so that this year in the LGBTQ is the best yet, by both continuing the great work of past committees and giving you the chance to try out and give feedback on some new events – lets see!

- Benn Harrison, Katrin Furst
Male and Female Reps