LGBT group at Athlone IT aims to promote equality for all

A society for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students at Athlone IT is launching a new page on the facebook website tomorrow (Thursday) to coincide with clubs and societies day at the local institute. The clubs and societies day will take place from 12-3pm and will offer students a chance to sign up for a variety of sporting and recreational groups. The AIT L.G.B.T. society was formed last November with the aim of promoting equal rights for all and its chairperson Austin Lawless said the response to date has been encouraging. The group's existing facebook page has 25 members and Austin said the membership includes "quite a good mixture of lesbian and gay students," as well as one transgender student. He stated that the group's new facebook page will offer students an opportunity to discuss any issues that they may be experiencing. "It will be a bit more personal than the average facebook page but at the same time it will be moderated in such a way that people's privacy and confidentiality will be 100% guaranteed," he said. It's expected that will be a function on the page which will allow private messages to be sent by people who wished to discuss something they don't want others to see. The L.G.B.T. society typically holds meetings once a month and also organises social outings for its members. Austin is a Hotel and Leisure Management student who is originally from Navan. He said he knew he was gay from an early age and he 'came out' twelve years ago when he reached the age of 18. He felt that people were now "a bit more tolerant" towards the L.G.B.T. community than they were when he came out. "Last year when we put up our posters (for the L.G.B.T. Society) we expected that some comments might be written on them but thankfully the posters were left alone and most of the people who joined the society were sincere. "At the same time you can expect some skepticism towards L.G.B.T. issues, and we haven't been part of a clubs and societies day at Athlone IT before so we will see what response we get tomorrow." He wished to thank the Athlone IT students union - and in particular its officers John Madden and Daniel Coulter - for their support to date. He also expressed gratitude to Athlone IT counsellor Treasa Fox for her advice and encouragement. Daniel Coulter, accommodation and welfare officer with the students union, said the union became involved in helping to set up the L.G.B.T. society as it was felt that it was a good idea and something which would hopefully be a success. He encouraged students to sign up for clubs and societies tomorrow and said several new groups had been started in recent times, such as a Movie Society. "We're stressing the importance of students getting involved in clubs and societies because there is more to college than going out drinking," commented Daniel.