LGBT Student Accommodation

AllForIt

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/432042/university-of-limerick-launches-housing-for-lgbt-students.html

THE University of Limerick (UL) is providing on-campus accommodation exclusively for students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and allied community.

As a gay I cringed when I read this. This is taking 'safe spaces' to a whole new level. What I most object to is the notion LGBT's need to be protected from the big bad outside world to this level.

The idea of the scheme is for students who wish to live together in a house which supports the LGBTIQ community.

In what way exactly? What she really means is a safe space.

She acknowledged that rainbow housing will not solve the problems of every LGBTQ student in the University.

“However, it can create the conversation in which people can learn from one another.

It doesn't encourage conversation, it stops it from happening in the first place. Living in an echo chamber is hardly worthwhile conversation.

“The best way to fight homophobia and transphobia is to educate and that’s what we hope to do with rainbow housing,” Ms Shanley added.

I don't see how nasty homophobic heterosexuals are going to be educated when the LGBT students are hiding away in a safe house.

“It’s about giving LGBT students access to a supportive base in which to launch themselves comfortably, proudly and assertively in campus life.

It will do nothing more than encourage one to self obsess about your identity - which is the complete opposite of what is ideal.

“It provides visibility for the community on campus which ,for students in many cases, coming from schools, where they may have felt culturally invisible can be very impactful,” Dr Haynes added.

The irony of taking about visibility when you self segregate yourself away from the wider campus population.

This is a load of horsesh*t that will do noting whatsoever for LGBT rights. These aren't teenagers we're talking about here - these are young adults who live in the same world as everyone else and should live in it. To say that we need a safe space away from you lot is just frankly an insult and suggests LGBT's are wildly different from everyone else. People are going to say LGBT's are being treated favorably and they would be right.

Lux23

I think it's foolish too, efforts should be made to ensure a campus is inclusive, to me this sounds like a LGBTQ person wouldn't be safe, and I wouldn't want to send my kids there if that is the case.

JohnMc1

The Modern Left in a nutshell. "Segregation is bad. Except when its under our terms."

TheValeyard

Yeah it's nonsense. I happily shared a house with gay and straight people. Accommodation based on sexuality is wrong. Student accommodation should be first come first served. Not special status, for your gender, sexuality, race, colour, religion, ethnicity, etc.

TheValeyard

Lux23 wrote: »

I think it's foolish too, efforts should be made to ensure a campus is inclusive, to me this sounds like a LGBTQ person wouldn't be safe, and I wouldn't want to send my kids there if that is the case.

Which is crazy because I've heard nothing but great things about UL, it seems to be a great and accepting place for everyone.

Gatling

Whats next the first only LGBTQ + - a-z university and college for gay Inbetween but definitely not straight people,

Actually does gay only accommodation breach equality laws

Odhinn

AllForIt wrote: »

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/432042/university-of-limerick-launches-housing-for-lgbt-students.html

As a gay (...............) be right.

Seems a bit odd to be seperating people out when there's far more acceptance of them in society generally.

jimgoose

"Rainbow housing"... :pac::pac::pac:

never_mind

Gatling wrote: »

Whats next the first only LGBTQ + - a-z university and college for gay Inbetween but definitely not straight people,

Actually does gay only accommodation breach equality laws

Well there is a US secondary school that is open to (but not limited to) LGBTQ+ students:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Milk_High_School

I don't have a strong opinion on this. There are Irish language apartments on most campuses, there are Post-Grad only apartments in a few, there are mature student only places as well so not sure problem is if the University thought there was a need for whatever reason. It does baffle me, however, that there are clubs and societies for all of these groups...

Hmmm... I don't see a major issue but not sure if it's necessary. I lived with all sorts including a klepto, multiple international students, people with mental health issues, dirty people, neat freaks, swats, alcos... you name it, I saw it! It was great to meet different people. That being said as a member of the LGBT community I was put once with a 2 guys who were openly homophobic; one was a Morman, the other was just an as$. I didn't let it get to me (the throw away comments or occasional slagging) but not everyone is up to the task of standing up to people.

Rodin

Gatling wrote: »

Whats next the first only LGBTQ + - a-z university and college for gay Inbetween but definitely not straight people,

Actually does gay only accommodation breach equality laws

If straight people can't have it then that is discrimination based on sexuality and therefore illegal.

Lux23

I can understand it with a secondary school especially when they take kids from all over the place like the Harvey Milk School.

TuringBot47

THE University of Limerick (UL) is providing on-campus accommodation exclusively for students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and allied community.

So... discrimination against heterosexuals?

Sure colleges where the most leftie inclusive enclaves in the country.
Seems a bit odd that they think they need exclusive accommodation, unless private landlords weren't entertaining them.

mcmoustache

TheValeyard wrote: »

Yeah it's nonsense. I happily shared a house with gay and straight people. Accommodation based on sexuality is wrong. Student accommodation should be first come first served. Not special status, for your gender, sexuality, race, colour, religion, ethnicity, etc.

It's open to everyone. You don't need to be lgbt. According to the article, it's for "students who identify as ". It doesn't say anything about actually being gay or anything like that.

One eyed Jack

AllForIt wrote: »

As a gay I cringed when I read this.

I cringed when I read that, tbh, as though being gay yourself has anything to do with anything.

I laughed even harder when I read what you’re complaining about. The irony is just too much :pac:

They’re not internment camps for ‘the gays’, they’re providing living accommodation and a physical community as such as opposed to an online community for people who imagine they have anything in common with each other. I could personally see it descending into Big Brother style antics as there’s a certain type of personality as opposed to anything to do with their identities, that finds these sorts of ideas attractive.

Honestly it’s a means of providing community for a cohort of society and if it ring-fences them in to the point where they’re happy to keep to themselves, is that really a bad thing for the rest of society which has all the rest of the space to themselves? I’m ok with that, personally.

TheValeyard

mcmoustache wrote: »

It's open to everyone. You don't need to be lgbt. According to the article, it's for "students who identify as ". It doesn't say anything about actually being gay or anything like that.

Did you even read the opening post?

khaldrogo

AllForIt wrote:

As a gay I cringed when I read this. This is taking 'safe spaces' to a whole new level. What I most object to is the notion LGBT's need to be protected from the big bad outside world to this level.

But you do believe they need protecting to some level?? Over say a straight male with massive anxiety issues?

What makes the lbgqt more deserving?

ToddyDoody

I see. Put them living together and they'll be happy and content.

mcmoustache

TheValeyard wrote: »

Did you even read the opening post?

Yep. It's where I found the line...

THE University of Limerick (UL) is providing on-campus accommodation exclusively for students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and allied community.

...and quoted the bold bit.

It doesn't say that it's for "students who are". It says "students who identify as"

While you can't be whatever you want in life, you can identify as basically anything.

If they wanted to set aside accommodation for people who are lgbt, they could have said so. Instead they set it aside for people who identify as such which is quite different.

There's nothing stopping you from identifying as something in that list.

NSAman

I agree with the OP. IN college MANY MANY years ago, we had gay, straight and questioning living in the same house. Never an issue and if anything it made us more tolerant of each other.

Why would you hide yourself away from interacting with society as a whole?

There was never any issue with us, if anything, we protected our gay friends (who are still friends today) from those who were not tolerant.....

mbmbmb444

Long time lurker.

What all of you seem to be missing, which is clearly stated in the opening paragraph is that this accomodation is open to "allies" of the LGBT+ community i.e people who are heterosexual but ally with people who are LGBT+, what one would expect everyone is in this day and age tbh.

Whilst plenty of you seem to be extending your support towards the first 3 letters of the acronym (in many posts), people who are trans and non-binary still experience huge amounts of discrimination and hate, and perhaps they might prefer to live in a environment that will support them.

Rodin

Better disabled access for those with disabilities would be a much better use of money.
The media coverage around trans issues is completely at odds with its tiny prevalence.

I think if I was a gay person Id wonder why I was being lumped in with a trans person in one big acronym.

Sexuality snd gender identity are completely different to each other. May as well lump in the body dysmorphs too.

Rodin

khaldrogo wrote: »

But you do believe they need protecting to some level?? Over say a straight male with massive anxiety issues?

What makes the lbgqt more deserving?

Many more suicidal males and parasuicidal males then there are transpeople, but their voices aren't loud enough.

Calhoun

We are re-introducing segregation it seems, who gets to be back of the bus is it the CIS gendered normies, or the LGBT community.

Its funny they say its not about self-segregation but i think it is.

Sweetemotion

Does anybody know if this special accommodation cost any extra than the regular accommodation?

Assetbacked

“The best way to fight homophobia and transphobia is to educate and that’s what we hope to do with rainbow housing,” Ms Shanley added.

Right. Educate whom exactly, by isolating yourself from those you presumably want to educate? This is such middle class, corporate posturing. No substance to it, just self-promoting, CV-padding justification for whatever pointless degree she studied.

Assetbacked

mbmbmb444 wrote: »

Long time lurker.

What all of you seem to be missing, which is clearly stated in the opening paragraph is that this accomodation is open to "allies" of the LGBT+ community i.e people who are heterosexual but ally with people who are LGBT+, what one would expect everyone is in this day and age tbh.

Whilst plenty of you seem to be extending your support towards the first 3 letters of the acronym (in many posts), people who are trans and non-binary still experience huge amounts of discrimination and hate, and perhaps they might prefer to live in a environment that will support them.

T is not a sexuality though, I don't agree with it being lumped into the LGB group. It's an actual mental issue as the people identify in some way to a different form of themselves taken to extreme levels.

uck51js9zml2yt

I thought homosexuals wanted equality, yet they are oversubscribed for wanting to be different.

It's nonsense and another case of pandering to the minority.

nthclare

Ah this was bound to happen, the new trend in UL is to be the first to do everything...

This comes from the lecturers in the social studies area, they're very strident in their approach.

I don't know if there's a Chapel or any place of worship in UL but mark my word, if there was a Christian block in the UL campus.
These cretins would be outraged by it.

As a staff member dare you question them and they'll make you feel very uncomfortable around the canteen, you'll be ignored and made feel very unwanted.

There's a few activists working in UL and they're a law onto themselves....

Still waters

Thats fine with me, id hate my child going to college and living with gays



if i had written that and meant it there would be uproar, yet one of irelands top universities can segregate students, for what ? To protect them from the heterosexual fanatics hell bent on attacking gays, correct me if I'm wrong, but is homophobia a massive threat in or around the UL campus or the surrounding areas.

klaaaz

If some people stopped beating up LGBT people, there would be no need for a safe space for them in the first place.

Calhoun

Still waters wrote: »

Thats fine with me, id hate my child going to college and living with gays



if i had written that and meant it there would be uproar, yet one of irelands top universities can segregate students, for what ? To protect them from the heterosexual fanatics hell bent on attacking gays, correct me if I'm wrong, but is homophobia a massive threat in or around the UL campus or the surrounding areas.

The funny thing though is the LGBT community are building a stick for their own back.

One of the reason why the community has been so successful over the past 20 years is because they have lived openly side by side with members of the wider community. One of my good friends from school came out in secondary school and he was key to me changing how i looked at the whole situation especially come the marriage referendum.

Something like this removes them from the community but also depending on how it is done could be seen as an elite class/status. Which in turn builds on the opposition to them on a whole because it plants the idea of us versus them. If the LGBT community is no longer a part of US then they have a target on their back.

bloodless_coup

I'm so tolerant and progressive I'd have sex with an L, a B, a T, a Q. But I will not have sex with a straight person.

Rodin

klaaaz wrote: »

If some people stopped beating up LGBT people, there would be no need for a safe space for them in the first place.

More likely to get beaten up as a straight person.

klaaaz

Rodin wrote: »

More likely to get beaten up as a straight person.

No, they are beaten up for being LGBT. Not beaten up for being straight.

Calhoun

Rodin wrote: »

More likely to get beaten up as a straight person.

CIS gendered normies deserve the beatings they get because they haven't had to live under oppression for years. :pac::pac::pac:

Gatling

klaaaz wrote: »

No, they are beaten up for being LGBT. Not beaten up for being straight.

Who and where .

The Satanist

klaaaz wrote: »

If some people stopped beating up LGBT people, there would be no need for a safe space for them in the first place.

Is there any evidence of assaults against LGBT UL student accommodation residents by non-LGBT residents of UL accommodation? Hopefully segregation will put a stop to this.

Still waters

klaaaz wrote: »

If some people stopped beating up LGBT people, there would be no need for a safe space for them in the first place.

I'm genuinely interested by this, is there stats to back this up, I've been beaten up before, I'm straight, maybe you've seen/heard of gay friends getting beaten up and put it down as homophobia but it was just a case of some lads being cnuts and beating up the first person they came across, who also happened to be gay

blanch152

klaaaz wrote: »

If some people stopped beating up LGBT people, there would be no need for a safe space for them in the first place.

And how does isolating the LGBT community help with getting them accepted?

bloodless_coup

klaaaz wrote: »

No, they are beaten up for being LGBT. Not beaten up for being straight.

Doesn't seem possible that someone could be all of the letters at once. I suppose you could have someone identifying as multiple things at one time.

nthclare

klaaaz wrote: »

If some people stopped beating up LGBT people, there would be no need for a safe space for them in the first place.

One of the biggest bullies in my school is part of the LGBT community, and he has lot's of convictions for assault...

So don't be harping on about LGBT people getting beaten up.

There was another butch women not too far away who was a right tormenting so and so back in the day too.

Members of the LGBT community are as rough as the straight community too.

Being a knob doesn't discriminate sexuality.

Calhoun

nthclare wrote: »

One of the biggest bullies in my school is part of the LGBT community, and he has lot's of convictions for assault...

So don't be harping on about LGBT people getting beaten up.

There was another butch women not too far away who was a right tormenting so and so back in the day too.

Members of the LGBT community are as rough as the straight community too.

Being a knob doesn't discriminate sexuality.

What makes it more hilarious is that making it so you view the world as US versus them only works out well if you have bigger numbers.

Being a minority and taking a segregation approach never works as it dehumanises. If you don't know a member of the LGBT community it makes it so much easier to write them off.

One eyed Jack

Calhoun wrote: »

Something like this removes them from the community but also depending on how it is done could be seen as an elite class/status. Which in turn builds on the opposition to them on a whole because it plants the idea of us versus them. If the LGBT community is no longer a part of US then they have a target on their back.

It’s absolutely a class/status thing as not only is there a huge demand for accommodation in UL, but this token gesture means that “allies” will want into the “rainbow housing” to reflect their self-perceived virtues of equality and diversity and so on. I can almost guarantee you the student occupants will be primarily heterosexual men and women, and there won’t be a hint of irony about it!

Most of the student population will simply carry on as before, concentrating more on their studies than wanting to participate in tokenism and identity politics.

drunkmonkey

So there creating a straight free zone. Is it ok for if the straights decide to call their housing lgbtq+ free housing?

1hnr79jr65

What is to stop someone applying saying they are gay/bi or so on to get into this guaranteed accommodation. Its not like they can force that person to to prove they are or it would be considered discrimination.......

ScottCapper

Ah ffs this is gone too far

ScottCapper

UL is a pure money racket

DEFTLEFTHAND

To be brutally honest humans like all animals are deeply tribal.



Maybe segregation is just natural form.

Annasopra

drunkmonkey wrote: »

So there creating a straight free zone. Is it ok for if the straights decide to call their housing lgbtq+ free housing?

No. They're not.

The housing is open to all once they are lgbtqi+ friendly.

Its hilarious. People around here claiming that straight cis people can't live in the accomodation. Does noone actually read whats being discussed.

Sonics2k

So it doesn't appear to be exclusively for LGBT folks, rather it's aimed towards LGBT folk and friendly people.

Basically there's a much less chance of someone calling you a dyke or ****** or just being a dick to you in general because you're LGBT.

What's the problem?

drunkmonkey

What it says is..
"THE University of Limerick (UL) is providing on-campus accommodation exclusively for students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and allied community."

What's the rules for being allowed into the allied community, how do you define it. Is there a membership fee?