GROWING PRIDE
are working Students at a Gold Coast university society. hard to provide a more inclusive
EVEN in the year and half Charlotte Watson has been at Bond University, students have become more accepting of those who identify as (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, questioning and intersex (LQBTQI).
Charlotte, 18, started studying a Bachelor of Laws in 2018 and saw the Bond Pride Alliance dwindle from three executives down to the club becoming inactive.
After having a generally positive experience growing up in Brisbane, Charlotte wanted the same for her university and fellow students.
The second-year student restarted the Bond Pride Alliance taking up the role of president.
“The main reason why I pushed to restart it was I felt that the campus really needed to have some sort of LGBT representative group on campus,” she said.
“I didn’t experience anything negative in my first year but generally I know there has to be some sort of representation on campus — there’s always someone struggling.”
Charlotte has turned the club around and it’s thriving.
“It was my first major executive role at university and was a big learning curve on how to run any sort of club,” she said.
“I was left with no transition – it was ‘you’re the sole member do with it what you want’ but I had support from BUSA (Bond University Student Association)
and the staff network.
It took a bit of work but it’s at a really good stage right now.”
The Pride Alliance has held several events including movie nights and panels aimed at getting conversation flowing.
“We had a panel night where we had three panellists representing different experiences.
“We had someone who works part-time as a drag queen, a young professional person who came out as bisexual recently and had interesting experiences, and had a uni student who talked about coming out.
“It was a really positive event and the main purpose was just to have discussion flowing and people asked questions.”
Charlotte said the main thing the club did was to help provide support for students.
“The main aim of having the club is to basically provide a support base for students who might be struggling with their identity, and to provide a resource base for students interested in learning about LGBT identities and how to support others,” she said.
“A large portion is dedicated to making sure allies of LGBT people can learn how to support others and often a lot is focusing on mental health.”
Charlotte said the atmosphere at Bond was becoming more accepting with the growth of the club.
“I know people who have had negative experiences but mostly the positives outweigh the negatives,” she said.
“The atmosphere’s changing — I know people who were at Bond in 2015 who thought there wasn’t a positive atmosphere, but gradually now it’s a lot more supportive even four years ago.
“Even in my time, comparing this year to 2018 I’ve had people come up to me and say I didn’t even realise Bond had an LGBT organisation.
“We’ve picked up visibility and I think that’s helped a lot with people having the opportunity to think about the LGBT experience within Bond.”
After holding a pledge event against homophobia Charlotte said Bond would become a place where LGBTQI students could feel comfortable.
“With the Pride Alliance we’re really aiming to build up a strong student body who are prepared to stand up against homophobia,” she said.
“As we grow the focus will be making sure anyone who comes to university can come as their whole selves and there’ll be no shame on campus.”