This page includes the roles up for election, current committee's contact details, information on how to run, and the timetable for the elections.
The LGBTQ+ Society plays an enormous and exciting role in structure of the vibrant queer community at Oxford. The society runs a popular drinks event and club night every Tuesday along with a myriad of welfare and identity specific events every single week. The Oxford LGBTQ+ scene is already unlike any other at any university in the country, yet we think it can still be better. The society’s huge reach, combined with its yearly income from sponsors and events, creates the potential (among other things) for larger events, notable guest speakers, and better support all round.
Roles up for election
Executive Committee
The exec (made up of the President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Social Secretary) are the four leaders of the LBTQ+ Soc committee. These roles have the largest influence over how the society is run. As such, these roles can be the most rewarding on committee, but also the highest commitment. The exec members’ duties cover the jobs that are essential to the upkeep and longevity of the society. If you’re interested in running for any of these positions, you’re encouraged to get in touch with the outgoing exec to discuss their roles – they’ll be happy to talk to you!
President
If you have a vision for how you want LGBTQ+ Society to change, ideas for new initiatives, love communicating with all kinds of people, organising and managing a team, then this is the job for you! You oversee Soc’s main projects, statements, and partnerships, always making sure to consult with your team to get everyone on the same page before deciding. You ensure Soc’s organisational culture is professional and sustainable by setting standards, understanding committee members’ interests and relationships, and redistributing workload where needed. Please don't worry if you don't feel like you have all of these skills already––you'll learn on the job! It’s a huge privilege to do this job and there’s so much scope for running your own projects and honing your skills. It’s been such an enriching ride for me and I’m sure it will be the same for you. Feel free to reach out to me via email (not Facebook as my privacy settings sometimes screen out messages) to learn more about the job or ask any questions you have. – Mick (he/him) - ouprez@gmail.com
Secretary
The main duties of the secretary include minuting (and providing snacks for) the bi-weekly committee meetings, organising committee elections, maintaining LGBTQ+ Soc’s registration with the university, and running the Rainbow Parenting Scheme – which is like college parenting but just for LGBTQ+ students. It also entails more odd jobs throughout the year, these might include setting up and minuting holistic meetings, compiling information, or ensuring that appropriate webpages exist for elections, rainbow parenting and such. Because this job covers such a diverse range of tasks, it’s full of wonderful experiences. Being secretary gives you a whole host of opportunities to meet new people and let you feel like you’re making a difference to the community. If you enjoy meeting new people, managing teams, and plenty of admin, this is the role for you! If you have any questions at all, please e-mail me or pop me a message on Facebook and I’ll be glad to talk to you about it – Glyn (he/him) - ousecre@gmail.com
Treasurer
During term time the job has six main parts
1) Sponsorship. This involves maintaining sponsor relations, replying to any emails the sponsors send, promotion and organising sponsor events. It also requires you to seek out new sponsors (as appropriate), which involves emailing and/or networking with prospective sponsor firms.
2) Budgeting. Writing the budget, reimbursing people for any expenditure, and writing an income statement at the end of every term.
3) The money box at drinks. You’re responsible for making sure there’s a cash float at drinks every week, as well as putting it in the bank account. You may have to attend drinks and take it home with you, or co-ordinate storage & collection with the social secretary.
4) The Community Fund. As treasurer you are chief of the community fund, a grant awarded for initiatives which benefit the welfare of the LGBTQ+ community.
5) The Gender Expression Fund. As treasurer you also co-ordinate applications and ensure the Trans Reps vote on it.
6) Careers. You will also serve as somewhat of a ‘careers officer’ for the Society, for both corporate careers with sponsor firms and non-corporate careers as advertised via the mailing list and Careers Facebook Group.
This is a really great role if you have a lot of thoughts on the future of the LGBTQ+ Society – because you manage the budget, there’s plenty of scope to provide funding for / start running projects you see value in. – Tracey (she/her) outreasu@gmail.com
Social Secretary
‘work hard, play hard’ - your main job is to organise and run our biggest event, the weekly Tuesday drinks. For this, you’ll appoint a bar team, order and maintain the drinks store, book venues and liaise with colleges to make sure everything runs smoothly. As well as this, we’ve hosted several successful movie nights, fundraisers, and other socials, and are currently involved in co-hosting events for LGBTQ+ history month. Social sec is the point of call for co-operation with other LGBTQ+ societies (Brookes, Cambridge etc.) as well as local co-ordination (Plush, college bops etc.), so there’s so much opportunity to make the Oxford LGBTQ+ scene fun and inclusive for everyone! If you have any questions, please drop me an email or Facebook message, and I’d be more than happy to chat more about what the position entails. – Nadja (she/her) - ousocialsec@gmail.com
General Committee
The general committee is made up of all of the identity reps and a few additional functional roles. These positions organise the majority of the events that LGBTQ+ Soc runs, and play a huge role in building a sense of community among their respective identity groups. Just as with exec, you’re encouraged to contact the outgoing reps if you’d like to know any more about one of the roles below!
Junior Social Sec
This role primarily involves supporting the Social Sec in running weekly Tuesday Drinks, which includes ordering alcohol stock, setting up/clearing up the drinks, and being a friendly face behind the bar throughout the event. You'll also run termly socials for LGBTQ+ College Reps, to allow them to meet each other and set up things like inter-college crewdates/pub crawls. This year, we've run really successful movie nights, but there are plenty of opportunities to do other types of socials! Depending on your identity, there's also the possibility of running Men*'s and Non-Binary Pizza and Drinks Socials. This role is a really great way to meet and work with loads of different people (from the Social Sec to bar reps to college LGBTQ+ officers) and organise loads of events that benefit the university community! - oujunsocialsec@gmail.com
Welfare x2 - these positions must be held by people of different gender
Your role will entail running fortnightly welfare events with your co-rep aimed at the entire community! Welfare reps also provide 1-1 chats to people with welfare concerns and signpost and assist people in accessing resources! The reps also run the Welfare Working Group who come up with ideas for new events and ways of getting welfare out there. We’ve met loads of people in the community through this role and it’s been so fun - ouwelf01@gmail.com and ouwelf02@gmail.com.
Graduate Reps x2 - preferably of different genders
If you want to organise social and welfare events for grads and encourage grads to come to Tuesday drinks then apply for this role! You'll be able to meet lots of new people, as well as get really involved with being on committee. Integrating the grad community with the undergrads is another hugely important job – ougradu01@gmail.com and ougradu02@gmail.com
Racial and Ethnic Minorities Rep x2
As the Racial and Ethnic Minorities officer, you'll be responsible for organising events thrice a term, ranging from welfare teas to pre-drinks prior to Tuesday Drinks as well as the termly Cross-Cultural Cuisine potluck-style events joint with the International reps, which tends to be our most popular kind of event. It's a small but great community, and keeping up engagement with LGBTQ+ Soc is an essential part of the role. - ouraem01@gmail.com and ouraem02@gmail.com
Trans Rep x2
The Trans reps represent the interests of trans folks to the rest of the committee, and are points of contact for any welfare concerns pertaining to being trans. This involves running the weekly trans welfare (“Twelfare”) meet-ups open to trans, non-binary, intersex and questioning people in Oxford, in addition to managing a secret Facebook group where people can chat and share resources. The trans reps also help the Student Union LGBTQ+ Campaign to run Oxford’s Trans Day of Remembrance service. There’s also lots of opportunities to run additional events - some of the things we have done include dog walks, DIY haircuts, pizza nights and more! - outrans01@gmail.com and outrans02@gmail.com
International Rep x2 - preferably from different countries so we can provide as much varied support to our international community as experiences are very diverse
International Reps play a really fun and important role in growing our community of LGBTQ+ international students. There's so many of us out there and given our diversity, there's so much potential for fun joint events (e.g. RAEM Reps, International Society, etc.) and interesting discussions! (Our chats can be endless – recent topics include: queer films we know, accents, cuisines). What you do is pretty much yours to define, but past events we've held include: welfare teas, cross-cultural cuisines, G&D's trips and international/RaEM drinks. There's a lot of satisfaction in bringing people together, whether it's easing newcomers to Oxford/UK into life here or facilitating new connections for everyone generally. If you have any questions, please contact Richard or Ben and we'd happily chat with you about the role! - ouinternat@gmail.com and ouinternat02@gmail.com
Faith Rep x2 – must be of different faiths
The Faiths reps aim to provide resources and run events for LGBTQ+ people of faith, and represent the needs of people of faith on committee. We tend to use 'people of faith' very loosely to encompass anyone with an interest in or history with religion. This year we've run welfare teas every other week, as well as some other events like film nights, panels and an event in collaboration with faiths societies. We are also points of contact for anyone who'd like to talk to us, and have run LGBTQ+ 101 training for chaplains. You don't need to know lots about religion or have been super involved in faiths events so far to run- all you need is ideas and an interest in supporting LGBTQ+ people of faith! - oufaith01@gmail.com and oufaith02@gmail.com
Disabilities Rep
The Disabilities rep will be the point of contact for all members of the community who identify as having a disability, encompassing physical disabilities and mental health conditions. They will host three socials per term, and provide support and welfare. They will ensure LGBTQ+ people feel welcome at our events, thinking about welfare, social, awareness and accessibility within the community. Contact Prez or Secretary- ouprez@gmail.com or ousecre@gmail.com
Class Rep
The Class rep will make sure that working class voices are heard within the LGBTQ+ community. They can run socials for working class LGBTQ+ students, work on making sure that LGBTQ+ events aren’t prohibitively expensive, and liaise with OxfordSU’s Class Act.- ouclass@gmail.com
Bi/Pan Rep
As the bi/pan rep, your main job is to put on 3 (or more!) termly events for the Oxford bi/pan community, ranging from film screenings to picnics to arts & crafts, so feel free to get creative. You, alongside the welfare reps, will also be the first port of call to people within the bi/pan community regarding more identity-specific questions or issues, as well as managing the secret bi/pan Facebook group and adding people when they ask, so it’s important to check the email account (oubipan@gmail.com) regularly. This job is a lot of fun and involves meeting lots of new people, so if you're considering running please do!
Ace/Aro Rep
The ace/aro rep organises and runs weekly Ace Teas for the Ace/Aro community. They involve lots of junk food, plenty of different kinds of tea, and lots of discussion about our ace/aro experiences. It's a great little community, and it gives you a chance to meet lots of new people in a relaxed and personal setting. - ouacearo@gmail.com
Women*’s Officer
For the role of Women*'s Officer, the main event run is Women*’s and Non-Binary Drinks 4 times a term. This involves creating a space in which LGBTQ+ Women* feel comfortable to meet other women* as well as have lots of friendly chats and laughs. This naturally involves a lot of (free) pizza and drinks (alcoholic and non). The role also has a welfare component as people may message you with concerns such as coming out and coming to their first queer event. A part of the role is also organising CAKE, or appointing a CAKE rep to do so. CAKE is Oxford’s only Queer Women*’s club night! This is probably the most challenging part of the job although it is incredibly fun as well!. - ouwomoff@gmail.com
Publicity Officer
Compiling the weekly events email and overseeing our mailing list activity is the biggest job of the publicity officer. It’s all about effective communication and marketing, so if this interests you, I’d recommend you think about applying! The publicity officer also runs our social media and is responsible for replying to anyone who slides into our DMs. A good knowledge of social media platforms is useful in this position. The Publicity Officer is also most people’s first point of contact when they send Soc a message or reply to a post, so if you’re a people person, this is a great opportunity to network and make friends. - oupubl@gmail.com
Note that, this year, a new position under (External Publicity Officer) was created. This position will adopt some of the Publicity Officer (henceforth known as Internal Publicity Officer) as well as new ones. Return to this page soon for updated descriptions regarding the Internal and External Publicity Officerships.
IT Officer
As IT officer, the upkeep of the website and the mailing list are your responsibility, to ensure that all communication between committee and members is as smooth as possible. You’ll also need to make sure that elections are run correctly, and be available as tech support for committee. You can also help out at any other events that the rest of the committee run. - ouitofficer@gmail.com
All candidates for paired positions (welfare, graduate, RaEM, international, and faith reps) must run separately. Official job descriptions can be found in our constitution, found here.
Running
If you would like to run for any of these positions, please send a manifesto, and a plain text version, to Glyn, the secretary (ousecre@gmail.com)
Your manifesto doesn’t have to be multicoloured and covered in glitter! Just make sure it’s readable, keep it simple, and feel free to base it off past manifestos.
INCLUDE
- A picture of yourself*
- Pronouns*
- Reasons why you are suited to the role
- Relevant past experience for the role
- What you could bring to the role
SUBMITTING
- Submit as a PDF
- Keep it to one page of A4
- Include a plain text version
- Email your manifesto to ousecre@gmail.com
Husts will be held immediately before Tuesday drinks. 2nd Week drinks will host hustings for the executive committee. 4th Week drinks will host hustings for the general committee.
Candidates’ opening remarks and responses to outgoing reps’ questions will be minuted, and all manifestos will be distributed before husts take place.
Timetable
1st Week – Sunday 19th - Saturday 25th January: Call for candidates for the executive committee and their manifestos are open! Submit before the end of Saturday to run.
Also in 1st Week – Look out for committee drop ins! If you have any questions about being part of committee, come and meet our current committee to get answers!
2nd Week – Sunday 26th January: Manifestos for exec candidates distributed.
2nd Week – Tuesday 28th January (7:00PM): Hustings for the executive committee. Candidates will make a brief speech arguing why they should be elected, followed by questions from the outgoing exec and the audience.
2nd Week – Wednesday 29thth - Friday 31st January: Voting period! You must be signed up to the LGBTQ+ Soc mail list to vote.
3rd Week – Sunday 2nd - Saturday 8th February: Call for candidates for the general committee and their manifestos are open! Submit before the end of Saturday to run.
Also in 3rd Week – Look out for committee drop ins! If you have any questions about being part of committee, come and meet our current committee to get answers!
4th Week – Sunday 9th February: Manifestos for general committee candidates distributed.
4th Week – Tuesday 11th February: Hustings for the general committee. Candidates will make a brief speech arguing why they should be elected, followed by questions from the outgoing exec and the audience.
4th Week – Wednesday 12th - Friday 14th February: Voting period! You must be signed up to the LGBTQ+ Soc mail list to vote.
5th Week: Results publicly announced. Handover period begins.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email Glyn (ousecre@gmail.com, he/him) or drop us a message on Facebook.