Dylan Beck named Gender and Sexual Diversity Officer at Glasgow University

The position of Sexual Orientation Officer was recently given the new title of Gender and Sexual Diversity Officer at the second Students’ Representative Council (SRC) meeting of the academic year.

The position is currently held by Dylan Beck. The motion to change the position title was put forward by both Beck and Gender Equality Officer Thaïs Ramdani.

The motion was put forward due to the previously named Sexual Orientation Equality Group, which Beck led, also dealing with trans and gender issues. The job name has been changed in order to accommodate the scope of the position’s responsibilities.

Ramdani, said: “Most of the Welfare and Equal Opportunities positions on the SRC are related to the committee each council member sits on. As the Gender Equality Officer, I sit on the Gender Equality Steering Group, which focuses on the Athena SWAN charter and gender-related issues. The committee that Dylan sits on used to be named Sexual Orientation Equality Group, but due to the fact that the group also dealt with trans issues, it was renamed Gender and Sexual Diversity Group. The position’s name change reflected that decision.Trans students are now explicitly represented by both mine and Dylan’s positions, which was not the case previously.”

Dylan Beck commented that, “while I think that the change of the name is more a technicality than anything else, as my predecessors were already addressing issues faced not only by LGB(+), but also transgender students, I think it’s important this is now reflected in the name, too, and is then very clear from the beginning. This change reflected renaming of the university steering group that I sit on, and as someone who’s trans I feel it’s important our university does the best it can to support all LGBTQ+ students.”