The General Election is now only a week away. You may have seen the party broadcasts or the Prime-Ministerial debates. You may have made up your mind about who you're voting for in the upcoming general election or you may still be deciding. Whatever the case, as the Guild's LGBTQ Officer, I wanted to add my own thoughts for the consideration of LGBTQ students.

Our struggle for equality has seen great strides taken in the past decades. While LGBTQ people are still subject to homophobic, biphobic and transphobic abuse in certain circles - some of which I will discuss below in context - awareness and understanding of different sexualities has vastly improved since the turn of the century.

The Labour Party

Although I may not always agree with the Labour party's methods (case in point: positive discrimination) I can't deny that LGBTQ equality has thrived under the party's twelve-year tenure. I'd also like to add that if all Labour candidates were of the same calibre as our incumbent VPEA, Brigid Jones (who is running for Selly Oak, incidentally :P), I'd vote for them anyday.

That being said, I was barely old enough to vote during the last General Election. Labour winning that year resulted in the introduction of a £3,000 annual tuition fee for HE students - in direct contravention of the 2001 Labour Manifesto promise, reading:

"We have no plans to introduce University top-up fees, and have legislated to prevent their introduction."

They lied to the public and they lied to students; consequently, we are now paying through the noses for University education so that we may become the future skilled workforce of this nation. At the same time, the government has made it obscenely easy for thousands of citizens to willingly commit benefit fraud; some avoiding work altogether. Labour then had the audacity to consider removing the cap on top-up fees and ultimately reviving the dangerous association of intellect, ability and potential with socio-economic background. These facts cannot be ignored by students, prospective students or parents/guardians of either.

Admittedly this all sounds very personal, but it is intentionally so; this is how I have perceived the party during my time as Officer. My utter disgust of Labour cliques ruling the NUS in recent years has certainly not helped this perception.

The Conservative Party

"Tory" has been a dirty word among Guild hacks for as long as I can remember; the LGBTQ especially. The concerns of the LGBTQ community in that respect are primarily related to Section 28, and the proportion of Tory officials - including David Cameron - who supported this homophobic legislation and/or voted against it's repeal.

An interview with David Cameron back in February manifested itself in a rather unflattering article in Gay Times; part of an ill-conceived attempt to "reach out" to the gay community.

Even if Cameron was at least trying to be sincere in that rather suspicious interview he has clearly not convinced representatives of his own party. To name a few recent examples:

All of these people have, in one way or another, spoken up against aspects of homosexuality in the name of conservative-religious intolerance or otherwise-outmoded narrow views. These are all recent cases; which is astonishing, considering how close we are to a general election. Regardless of the sanctions imposed upon them by the party, the multitude of these occurrences casts significant doubt on the party's overall ability to move beyond biggotive views of LGBTQ people that the Tories have been associated with for years. To put it simply, Cameron needs to get his house in order before any self-respecting LGBTQ person could vote Conservative in confidence, without being terrified by the prospect of returning historic oppression.

The Liberal Democrats

I voted for the Lib Dems in the last election on the sole basis that they were against the very idea of top-up fees and have remained so. Unfortunately, the Lib Dems have been long regarded as a 'wasted vote' or a 'joke party' for; however, in the weeks following Nick Clegg's excellent performance during the first Prime-Ministerial debate, they really have stepped up in the polls and Clegg is presenting himself as, potentially, a strong and capable leader.

Following the fees flashmob back in November, myself, Edd and a focus group considered promoting the Lib Dems and Green as viable 'block vote' options against Labour and the Tories, who would almost certain vie for higher top-up fees. However a blog by the former NUS President did bring an interesting fact to light; the specifics of Lib Dem plans to scrap tuition fees have never been publicly detailed. This is clearly no longer the case as their six point plan has been released.

The Lib Dems are also extremely proactive in promoting LGBTQ issues; the Liberal Youth Homophobia is Gay campaign is an excellent case in point, seeing as the LGBTQ has taken part in the campaign over the past four years without our famous barcrawls and I have incorporated many of the campaign points into my work as Officer. My older brother has been a member of the Lib Dems for the past six years and a local councillor in Guildford for the past three. In that time, he and the Lib Dems have worked to further LGBTQ equality and campaigning on LGBTQ issues.

A common concern with the Lib Dems is their relative inexperience, and worries that - like Labour - the promise to do away with top-up fees may never come to fruition. However, at this point we can only speculate and cite the experience of another party. Personally, I believe that this is an excellent vote for students and I will be voting for the Lib Dems next week.

The British National Party

I refuse to soil my blog by uploading and displaying the BNP logo here. I find the very idea of the party offensive and their views on homosexuality are disgusting:

"The BNP is not blinded or cowed by political correctness and recognises that homosexuality, which affects less than 2% of the population, is not the norm and that homosexual relationships do not produce offspring – essential to the survival of a people and a nation. We therefore believe in a policy of tolerance to all forms of adult sexuality, but homosexuality should not be promoted or encouraged."

It's vile, it's outmoded and it's not even plausible. Procreation has historically been used by conservative elements of society to condemn homosexuality as a threat to human survival. The same people, I might add, never bother to think about the problems presented by unsustainable population growth; apparently ignorant to the fact that there are roughly 6,817,900,000 human beings alive to day. Their "argument" also implies a requirement of all humans to bring children into the world regardless of circumstances or preferences; another perfect example of moronic BNP thinking.

The ideals of the BNP on racial issues and immigration - better described in Allan Ssesanga's corresponding blog post - bear strong resemblance to the process of "Germanisation" in the prelude to WW2 and the Holocaust. Nick Griffin tries poorly to defend himself against Nazi associations by citing an ancestor who fought in WW2, as if that fact removes the obvious parallels between BNP and Nazi ideologies. His "defence" does nothing but dishonour the memory and sacrifice of this ancestor and all those who fought and died alongside him, and the BNP's continuing use of WW2 footage - as the backbone of their campaign, no less - is sickening.

It all paints a clear picture; the BNP are nothing but a gang of fearful, angry, small-minded thugs who are appealing to people on the grounds of hatred and fear that are unwelcome in this day and age. Despite this - and Nick Griffin's pathetic "I'm a victim of the other parties" position - the current government respects their right to free speech and allows them a place on local and national media. Ask yourselves this: if the BNP were in power, would they be so liberal?

Green

I approve of the Green Party's LGBT-friendly policies; they're relevant, clearly progressive and quite sincere. In many ways it's a shame that they're not a mainstream party.

UKIP

I'm not going to lie; everytime a UKIP leaflet comes through my door, I read it for no more than a few seconds, then decide to recycle it. In fact, for this reason, I have moved the paper recycling box so it is now RIGHT next to the front door to save me time and energy. The last leaflet I read spoke out against the "myth of global warming", mainly through supposition and obscure research, and promoted their simple-minded "one culture for all" ideology that screams intolerance.

I'm also somewhat concerned over the number of recent articles regarding UKIP's views on homosexuality. In one case, UKIP's Southend West candidate spoke of the party's plan to scrap gay equality laws in the name of "allowing people to act in accordance with their faith"; I'm sure I don't need to spell out the underlying meaning. Another case of former UKIP member Aiden Rankin - who joined after losing patience with the uber-PC crowd - reported that the party primarily consisted of "bigots who hated foreigners, gays and Muslims". Suffice it to say, they don't seem to have the interests of the LGBTQ community in mind.

Overall

That's all I really have to say to my constituents. Although I'd like to think you will consider what I've said when casting your vote, just remember that these are my opinions and my reflections and I have hopefully delivered them with minimal bias. Above all, think for yourself; vote for a party that will deliver for you, for students and for the LGBTQ community.