By MEG HILL,
social affairs editor

MONSU Queer, Monash University Caulfield campus’s queer/LGBTQIA+ department, has been restored after going through a leadership crisis. 

Queer officers Mish and Lulu said the department had had difficulty gaining traction in recent years because of “struggles” within the student council.

In response, two new officers were appointed last year. Mish first nominated to take on the responsibility with Oria Low, who was replaced by Lulu this year.

“It was a big jump as I’d not done anything related to student politics before, but it all worked out well enough that I decided to run for a second year,” Mish said.

Mish and Lulu recently fought down a proposal from MONSU to downsize the department to one officer.

They said multiple queer officers were needed to fairly represent the diversity within the LGBTQIA+ student community.

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Mish and Lulu said they understood what this reality meant for their constituency.

“While universities tend to be a more progressive space than other communities, the queer community is still in a constant battle for acceptance and understanding,” Lulu said.

“Many non-queer people are still not very knowledgeable on queer issues and that makes it difficult for us to be truly accepted.”

Both Mish and Lulu list the growth of the department at the forefront of their goals as queer officers.

“We had people completely miss that we exist and in the last couple years it’s been a big goal of mine to get more students involved,” Mish said.

“The queer community is especially at risk of mental health issues, so creating this supportive community and reaching out so those who need us can find us is important to me.”

Both say a large part of the growth in the department has been the move of the Queer Lounge from a closed, claustrophobic space to a much bigger and open one.

“The old Queer Lounge was similar to a closet, there were many jokes made about that,” Mish said.

Mish uses he/him pronouns and came to Monash from a Catholic all girls’ high school.

“For me, the queer department was a place I didn’t have people constantly misgendering me. It was so important to me as everywhere else at uni I was meeting new people and it was often so hard to build up the courage to even just say ‘I’m actually a guy’.”

Lulu, who uses she/her pronouns, said this issue also resonated with her.

“It is important to me that we represent all queer students, and not just those that turn up to our events,” Lulu said.

“A main goal of mine is to ensure wide-reaching changes such as all-gender bathrooms that will help a large proportion of queer students on campus.”

Mish and Lulu said the constant attention a queer student experiences spurs their lively attitudes towards their roles.

“Queer people have to come out continuously, be it when they mention a partner or correct a pronoun in class, it never ends and there’s always the risk of a bad reaction,” Mish said.

“It’s important that our society grows to become more accepting and to make less assumptions about people that leads them to hiding themselves. The Queer departments are there to create at least a small community of that acceptance.”

You can find the queer lounge on level 3 of S building, and for information on upcoming events you can find the collective on Facebook here.