Hello! I’m Yufan Wang, people call me Kelly; I’m a second year photography and film student, currently the president of Comic book and Manga society. 

I’ve spent my entire childhood in a country where LGBTQ+ community is hiding away from public eyes, this makes me experienced the struggles of accepting who you are first hand. Struggles as such are not only for LGBTQ+ community in countries like China, they are equally applicable to the UK. As a 14 years old who came to Britain looking for acceptance, it did surprise me when I realised, most people won’t come out until University or even after graduating University. And those people who do come out before university, have more or less experienced different levels of bullying throughout their school years. 

Coming out during university does not necessarily make the progress easier, which is why I want to become a LGBTQ+ officer in Roehampton. We are all going through the same struggles - some more than the others - but it is always nice to have someone to talk to. I have my own coming out stories that I can share, yet the community is never just about one person. LGBTQ+ community is about showing your truthful colours, and we’d be celebrating you for whoever you want to be. After being around University of Roehampton for almost two years, I believe there are lot of things could be done better within our community on campus. So here are some main changes I want to bring to Roehampton LGBTQ+ community:

• Making the society more visible on campus, keep people updated so everyone knows who to go to when they want to talk, or even just have a hug!

• Holding more LGBTQ+ related events, such as: inviting more LGBTQ+ speakers in Roehampton, creating original LGBTQ+ topic related videos and so on.

• Promise to hold a LGBTQ+ networking event at least once every half term. (E.g. poem nights, story sharing nights and so on.)

• More collaborations with people outside university: introducing people from other universities’ LGBTQ+ societies, attending LGBTQ+ events in London and etc.

As Oscar Wilde famously said, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”, we should always look for the stars. Their lights might not shine as bright as moon, but they are the hopes we are chasing after. I believe I can bring great changes to the community both on and off campus as an officer, together we can start a brand new chapter of LGBTQ+ community on campus! #OneDayAtATime