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Mark Pendleton (University of Sheffield)

29 January 2021

Election address

Our union should be proud of its role in fighting for LGBT+ equality, often leading the trade union movement. I pledge to continue that work, campaigning against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia as I have done for more than 20 years since becoming active in student, queer and refugee movements in my home country of Australia. I am currently a senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield and branch secretary.

I have led on equality issues as branch equality officer at Sheffield (2018-2020), on LGBT+ members standing committee (since 2019), and on NEC (since 2020). My commitment to driving progressive change extends to non-union activities - I co-authored the Royal Historical Society's recent report on LGBT+ historians and history and am involved in various community organisations and campaign groups. I have also been active in migrants' rights and anti-casualisation campaigns at Sheffield and currently lead our branch's gender and ethnicity pay gap negotiations.

While the fight against homophobia is not over, the key priority for LGBT+ communities now is to oppose attacks on our trans and non-binary siblings. Anti-trans views are founded in lies and scaremongering, which is why they are universally abhorred by the LGBT+ organisations our communities have formed over many decades. All LGBT+ people know from experience how stoking misunderstanding and fear of difference develops into hatred and violence. Like racism, ableism, misogyny and xenophobia, transphobic views divide our union and work against our members' collective interests. As a gay migrant living with HIV, I have experienced many forms of discrimination, and know that our equality work (and our union) must be intersectional or we are divided and doomed. For trade unionism to mean anything, we must believe that an injury to one is an injury to all.

Within UCU, I have campaigned with other newer members on the NEC for greater transparency. Elected representatives must be accountable to you if we are to build a more inclusive union. We also need to be responsive to change, be creative and smart in taking action and lead the fight for a transformed post-16 education system, whether that's defending jobs, abolishing REF or improving PGR members' conditions.

This role represents lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other people who transcend normative expectations around gender and sexuality, but anyone can vote.  I ask for your vote as someone who has experience fighting for all of the LGBT+ community, and for equality, justice and change to the benefit of all members. I encourage you to preference other candidates in this category who will also defend all LGBT+ members' rights.

I am standing with others on the UCU Commons slate. For more information about our core principles and platform we all share, please see www.UCUCommons.org.

Last updated: 28 January 2021