STUDENT VOICE | Page 18

LGBT Histor y Month #JoinTheConversation Ayrshire College Student Association (in collaboration with Ayrshire College’s Equality and Inclusion team) co-ordinated a number of activities and a multi-platform media campaign for LGBT History Month 2015, known as the #JoinTheConversation campaign. Emma Hall (ACSA) and Sara Turkington (Equality and Inclusion) led the #JoinTheConversation campaign. The aim of the campaign was to increase visibility of LGBT+ issues in Ayrshire College, to increase the knowledge of LGBT+ 18 issues in an effort to decrease discrimination, to empower and unite LGBT+ students and staff, and to give LGBT+ people a vital opportunity to feedback about Ayrshire’s local services. #JoinTheConversation spanned the entire month of February 2015 and had multiple strands Conversation Cafés, sexual health, A-Z LGBT+ fact-a-day, support photos, and podcasts. The Conversation Cafés were 3 structured sessions at Ayr, Kilwinning and Kilmarnock campuses which focused on various areas of life in Ayrshire, including community, NHS/ health and education in each session. These Conversation Cafés gave a vital opportunity for local LGBT+ people to give their feedback to people who are responsible for leading various local services - NHS, local authorities, community initiatives, Young Scot and Ayrshire College staff. Sexual health was a major factor within #JoinTheConversation. Sexual health services for the NHS visited each main campus twice during February with the C Card scheme, and two people were trained to facilitate C Card sign ups and distribute condoms and dams - one from Student Services, and one from ACSA (Emma Hall). The A-Z LGBT+ fact-a-day strand of #JoinTheConversation was a 28-part infographic series with bitesize information about LGBT+ life, rights, culture, history and media. These were posted online daily during February and displayed across all of the Ayrshire College sites on screens. The support photos for #JoinTheConversation were THE STUDENT VOICE: EDITION 4