Exeter College LGBT Society hosted a cocktail evening on Wednesday with the aim of encouraging members of the college to discuss LGBT issues.

Students were encouraged to text a question and place a cocktail order. The answer to their LGBT-related issue was then delivered with a cocktail of their choice.

The event was held on Wednesday and follows in the footsteps of the Christian Union’s ‘Text a Toastie’ event, which is held every Monday and offers free toasted sandwiches to students who pose questions about the Christian faith.

The LGBT Society hopes that the ‘text a cocktail’ event will persuade students to consider any questions that they may have concerning the LGBT community.

The event has been warmly received by students in the college. One of the event organisers explained, “The response so far has been absolutely amazing. People are really excited about the cocktails and it will be a great way to get people thinking about LGBT issues and raise money for a worthwhile charity.”

He added, “Exeter College is a fantastic place for LGBT members. It is very welcoming, we have a prominent LGBT community. Hopefully we will be able to keep text a cocktail going for many weeks to come, and with the response so far this looks very likely!”

The response from the CU was equally positive. Emma Hodgson, a CU rep from Exeter, commented, “It’s good to have the opportunity to be well informed on big issues like this, and communication is a crucial element in uniting the college community. I’ll certainly be ordering a cocktail!”

Another student commented, “I think it is a great idea. Our LGBT reps are very welcoming to all, and this gives us an excuse to enjoy a cocktail with them.”

The event asked for a donation of £2 for each cocktail and the money raised will go towards the Helen & Douglas House charity, which provides hospice care for children and young adults.

Madeline Grant, an English student at St Hilda’s College, was found guilty of bringing the Oxford Union into disrepute with her election manifesto at a disciplinary hearing at the Union on Wednesday. Her draft manifesto for the position of Librarian declared, “I don’t hack, I just have a great rack”. It was later altered to “I’m no hack; I’m just here for the craic”.

Sam Heitlinger, St Anne’s student and frequent Union visitor, called the disciplinary hearing “absurd”, stating, “Maddy’s manifesto was clearly meant to be taken with a pinch of salt. The Union has been crying out for someone who is willing to poke fun at it; she is a breath of fresh air. It seems to me that the reaction to her campaign is symptomatic of the Union’s tendency to take itself far too seriously.

“The powers that be ought to be applauding someone who is prepared to ridicule the Society’s embarrassingly dull ‘manifestos’. Anyone who knows Maddy would understand that she is not sexist and her manifesto was obviously a joke.”

Henry Tonks, a first year historian at Corpus Christi College, told Cherwell that he was not surprised about the disciplinary hearing, but added, “I equally don’t think they should be doing so. It’s another case of the Union taking itself a bit too seriously really – the campaign/manifesto was clearly done in a spirit of fun.”

Grant herself told the Daily Telegraph, “It’s ridiculous. At great expense they are paying for former Union officials to come to Oxford and sit on the committee which will decide my fate. I’m wondering if I should leave the Union. The main speakers they have lined up are Geri Halliwell and Nelly Furtado, so I wouldn’t miss much.”

Isabel Ernst, President of the Oxford Union, released an official statement, saying, “Madeline Grant breached the Union rules by speaking to the press without written permission from the President. It is the President’s and Standing Committee’s task to make sure the rules are upheld, and the President is thus obliged to bring action against her.

“The disciplinary hearing will only consist of ex-Officers who are still in Oxford, so will be at no cost to the Union or Union members.”

On Thursday, the Oxford Union Press Office confirmed the result of the hearing. Its statement read, “Following Madeline Grant’s disciplinary hearing last night, we can confirm that she was found guilty and fined 120GBP overall. The panel has now adjourned to investigate potential evidence that arose during the hearing with regard to a administrative procedure.

“However the panel has not decided yet who will be called back and we cannot confirm that anyone in specific is under investigation for the time being.”

Exeter students are planning to submit a petition voicing concerns over the behaviour of The Wilberforce Academy conference at Exeter during the Easter vacation and the College’s response.

The annual conference was organised by pressure group Christian Concern, who have advocated ‘corrective therapy’ for homosexuals.

The petition currently has 146 signatures and aims to stop future conferences at the College causing hurt and offence to students.

It outlines the treatment of Exeter student Nicholas Georgiou, stating, ‘[Georgiou] was approached by a conference representative during the peaceful protest who, without provocation, made direct and explicit comparisons between [Georgiou’s] homosexuality and paedophilia, and labelled him as ‘immoral’.

‘A representative from Thames Valley Police’s HALT (Homophobia Awareness Liaison Team) present at the protest later contacted Nick and encouraged him to report the incident which has now been recorded by police.”

The petition also raises objections to talks held by Christian Concern, entitled ‘Understanding the Challenge of Islam’ and ‘Triple Jeopardy: Aggressive Secularism, Islamism, and Multiculturalism’.

It states, ‘Any Muslim student who is told that their religion is a ‘challenge’ would naturally take offence.’

Georgiou told Cherwell that students had been unhappy when they found out about the scheduled conference over the Easter vacation, and described, “the outrage many of us felt at the prospect of offering a platform to a conference organised by a self-professed fundamentalist religious group.”

The Academy’s arrival prompted a group of Exeter students to organise a peaceful protest. Exeter first year Edward Nickell said, “Our best act of defiance was the massive LGBT party hosted by the MCR. Attendance was fantastic, everyone had an amazing time, undergrads, postgrads and staff”.

The petition also highlights what it describes as “the indolence of [Exeter] College when it came both to responding to media criticism and to ensuring the behaviour of the conference participants [which] has damaged our image in the public eye.”

Nickell said, ‘The college seem to be so afraid of damaging their reputation that they haven’t done as much as they can to stand against Christian Concern.”

The petition calls on the college ‘to issue a statement of regret for the offence and hurt caused to those in college at the time of the conference…[and to] add further details of the College’s acceptance of LGBT people to the website and the prospectus.”

The petition will also ask the college to “issue a statement to the effect that this conference will not be welcomed in future years”, and to introduce a “new vetting process for private conferences”.

Edward Allnutt, LGBTQ rep at Exeter, told Cherwell, ‘We want to underline…that this petition is more about moving forwards with college to retain an open, friendly atmosphere to LGBTQ and other communities, than it is about attacking them for past mistakes.’

Exeter linguist Ianthe Fry expressed her support, saying, “I approve of this petition, it shows the importance we place in maintaining the friendly and tolerant enviroment we have here at Exeter.”

Georgiou said that he was “very proud to be a member of such a modern and forward-thinking JCR.”

Students from other colleges were also supportive of the petition. Lincoln student Mitchell Byrne said, “As a Christian myself, I feel it is important that we are careful not to see a division between LGBT and the Christian faith, the petition is a good way to ensure that this is the case.”

Exeter College declined to comment. Christian Concern did not reply when contacted.

A UKIP candidate who ran for the Oxford City Council in yesterday’s elections has come under fire for making allegedly homophobic comments and for linking the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

Dr Julia Gasper, who has a DPhil from the University of Oxford in English Literature, stated that she has received “death threats” and demands for her to be “gassed”, “pushed off a cliff”, and “electrocuted” in response to her views.

Gasper wrote on her blog, “We ought to reflect that there is a strong connection between male homosexuality and paedophilia. Why hush it up?” In the same post, entitled ‘Why I think Gay Rights have gone too far’, Gasper alleges that homosexuals, “rather than claiming equality, are in many respects now claiming privilege and special treatment.”

Gasper also called for homosexuals to express “gratitude”, as “homosexuals are completely dependent on heterosexuals to create them”. She also stated that homosexuality was a “choice”. In an email sent earlier this year to Colin Cortbus, a former UKIP activist, she reiterated her belief in a supposed link between paedophilia and homosexuality, claiming that “although gay men are only about 3% of the population, they are about 50% of the paedophiles”.

When approached by Cherwell for comment, Dr Gasper denied the accusations of homophobia levelled against her, stating, “This is a malicious witch hunt, people enjoy stirring this up. I have always been tolerant, but I have been demonised by malicious people.”

Gasper also labelled her views “very, very middle ground”, and stated that she “[had] never said anything homophobic.”

She was also criticised by Cortbus for her “shocking” views regarding Islam. In an email to Cortbus earlier this year Gasper said, “Why is it any more wrong to assert that the Koran is a fascist book than to assert that Mein Kampf is a fascist book?

“The Koran is a lot more explicit in advocating hate and murder than Mein Kampf is.”

Reacting to the claim that she was mistaking the majority for a minority with regards to Islam, Gasper stated, “I am not going to be fobbed off with the myth about ‘a small number of extremists’. The fact is that Islam itself is a severely oppressive ideology.”

Gasper told Cherwell that comments which she has been criticised as having made came from a series of private emails. She stated, “The fact is that I have not made any public statement at any time about the Koran nor have I ever attacked Muslims.

“I have many Muslim friends and work with them on a daily basis. I am entitled to my private opinions about any book.”

Cortbus forwarded a number of private emails between himself and Gasper to Cherwell, stating that it was his “moral duty” to expose the would-be councillor’s “truly shocking” statements.

Cortbus called current accusations over Gasper’s alleged xenophobia “the tip of the iceberg”. He said that comments made by Gasper about the Koran were “shocking beyond any Islam-related far right sentiment [he had] ever heard, even from the BNP.”

He said, “UKIP was founded by people like Alan Sked to advocate liberal euro-scepticism, but has long-since embraced the hurtful politics of shouting loudest.” In an interview with Cherwell, Cortbus also called the invitation of Barry Malender, an MEP for the Dutch political party PVV, to the 2011 Eastbourne Party conference ‘a saddening and omnious signal to party activists’.

While stating that Gasper had a “right to voice [her views]”, UKIP stated that her views did not reflect party policy, adding, “Dr Gasper’s comments on this subject are her own and her own alone.”

The LGBT community at Oxford expressed their concern at Gasper’s comments about homosexuality. Sam Weinberg, President of Oxford University’s LGBTQ Society, commented, “I think most people recognise how far-fetched her positions on homosexuality are. I would be very surprised if she does at all well in the campaign.

“Still, I do believe this kind of rhetoric ought to be considered a serious problem. It is the job of the Oxford community, and the LGBTQ community in particular, to counter her positions.”

New College LGBT rep Henry Ashwell commented, “Her views on homosexuality are more worrying than offensive. That someone, who genuinely thinks that, as a supposed by-product of a heterosexual society, homosexuals should somehow show ‘gratitude’ for their existence, could think themselves a suitable candidate to represent all members of the Quarry and Risinghurst community should be a sobering thought for us all.

“The trouble is, Ms Gasper has absolutely no grasp of the wider picture beyond her own convictions. Her definition of ‘homosexuals’ as those who ‘simply choose a same-sex partner’, is, likewise, entirely bound up in her own bigotry. She provides absolutely no evidence for this – because she can’t.

“If Ms Gasper truly believes every word of her blog, then she should have the decency to stand aside for someone who has the tolerance, experience and selflessness that the community needs.”

Jim Everett, the Corpus LGBTQ rep, said, “I think it’s very unfortunate [that] an obviously very intelligent person has let their prejudice cloud their judgement so much. The council should not have a place for such intolerant, offensive and outdated views.”

Dr Gasper came last in the Quarry and Risinghurst ward with 69 votes out of a total of 1,714 votes cast. Labour candidate Laurence Baxter won with 848 votes, retaining the seat. The Liberal Democrats came second in the ward with 411 votes, followed by the Conservatives with 310 votes and the Green Party with 76.

She was elected as Parish Councillor for Risinghurt and Sandhills.