guest post: becoming an LGBT activist.

Colby Crook is one half of the jobshare that's been elected as Black Students' Rep on the NUS LGBT Committee this coming year; he's also an FE student, from the NUS LGBT Award-winning St Brendan's XIth Form College, and part of the large Trans caucus on committee.
When he announced on Facebook the other day that he 'wanted to do something' I suggested he wrote a blog entry for us about conference and how he came to be involved in the NUS and in activism. And (slightly to my surprise, cos i soon realised it sounded like a school assignment and felt a bit bad for asking) he said he'd like to, and last week he sent me this:

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It never crossed my mind before I entered the NUS LGBT Conference that I would be a student activist, let alone a student, at the end of the college year. I went in with delegate card and no idea how anything worked, and came out with not just a place on the committee, but a new sense of hope, a boost of confidence and a bunch of new friends.
It all began in one of our Human Rights groups in St Brendan's College, where a small group of students began discussing LGBT rights and wondered where that fit into our college. A few of us questioned the fact there was no group to support us, even though we all wanted one. This was of particular importance to some of us who had faced homophobic and transphobic abuse in the past, and wanted somewhere in college where we felt we could discuss and support those kind of issues in a safe environment. The subject was brought up with our Student Liaison Officer, who then said we could have a group and although it couldn't be specifically for LGBT students, it could welcome us. It was a start.
From there I went on to become a Bristol Youth Select Committee member, where one of our city wide aims, which was voted in, is reducing LGBT bullying. This is a first for the city, and the BYSC and Bristol UK Youth Parliament have recognised this is an issue that needs to be addressed. It began to feel like things were changing, and I got a thirst to do more.
When I first found out about the NUS LGBT conference in college, it sounded really interesting, but I really didn't know much about it. (Although anything with LGBT or queer in the title usually gets my attention pretty quickly!) I put myself up for it and once the delegates were chosen, it was just a matter of waiting for a nice weekend in Nottingham.
Entering conference was rather daunting, most of what I can remember is trying to register unsuccessfully and missing delegate training- not a good start! But soon, after meeting Sarah (the new FE rep) and getting a bit of guidance it felt like I was right at home there. By the evening, I was absolutely shattered but still managed to get up and dance in the 'Love Music, Hate Homophobia' gig.
As the next day dawned, I couldn't wait to get my socks on and get moving. The first thing that really got me was the workshops. In the first workshop we were asked to name all the Black LGBT famous people we could. It was pretty shocking to find that when you really think about it, there aren't many at all. After that was the Trans 102 Workshop, and the monumental amount of things that were brought up to discuss got me thinking even more.
And so, when a vacancy for LGBT Black Students Rep came up, Poggy and I jumped at the opportunity. It gave us the chance to make a change to the things we feel very passionate about. To me, getting this position represents all I've had to fight for, and all that I will have to fight for in the future.
Before I started conference, I had almost given up on college. I was fully prepared to leave, get a job, and just try to survive. Yet I realised in conference that not only is this an amazing environment to grow, develop and learn in, but it's also opened doors to me that I could only dream about before. If I met that amount of amazing, inspirational people, and saw that amount of passion and fire in just that weekend, imagine what else there is to see and do.