LGBTQ+ friends across campus boundaries

Sekava’s guiding principle is to bring together LGBTQ+ students from the Tampere Universities community and create a safe environment for them to be themselves. LGBTQ+ students belong to sexual and gender minorities.

According to TEK’s Student Survey, students from gender minorities feel like outsiders in their student communities and like they cannot be themselves more often than cisgender students. Cisgender means that your gender identity matches the sex you were assigned at birth. The survey was conducted in 2022.

“In some subject associations, the atmosphere towards LGBTQ+ students is not that open, and you cannot necessarily be yourself among fellow students in your field of study,” says Kaitsu Dahlberg, chairperson of Sekava.

He says that negative attitudes affect the wellbeing and sense of security of minority students.

“We want to reach the students in our target group who study in these fields where the atmosphere is not open. We provide opportunities to get to know people when you don’t have a community of your own,” adds Kuura Ahola, event manager at Sekava.

Dahlberg says that attitudes towards LGBTQ+ students are either positive or improving in many places.

“At last year’s Manse Pride, both TREY and Tamko did communications together with us and marched with us,” says Ahola.

TREY is the Student Union of Tampere University and Tamko is the Students’ Union of Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK).

Interest in alcohol-free events

“Our membership has grown tremendously,” says Kaitsu Dahlberg. Now in his third year on Sekava’s board, Dahlberg studies Sustainable Urban Development at the Hervanta and City Centre campuses of Tampere University.

Sekava has been a club since 1999 and became an official association in 2022. At the time of this interview, Sekava had 446 members.

Membership of Sekava is free, and most of the events are open to all students.

“We have had participants who live in Tampere and study at a university elsewhere,” says Kuura Ahola, who studies computer science at Tampere University in Hervanta.

Sekava organises meetups, opportunities to try different sports, sitsis, evening get-togethers and student parties. In the first months of this year, Sekava has invited its members to try Kyykkä, enjoy Colors of Pride sitsis and make crafts, for example.

Most of Sekava’s events are alcohol-free.

“I like to go to events that don’t revolve around drinking. You get to hang out with people and get to know them. I really enjoy these activities,” says Jules Saari, Sekava’s communications manager.

Sekava works in cooperation not only with other student associations and clubs, but also with organisations such as the Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK. At the end of January, TEK, Sekava and Aalto University’s LGBTQ+ organisation GAYY organised a student seminar.

“This working life seminar was a new event for us. We hope to have more informative events in the future,” says Dahlberg.

Article continues after the image.

Venturing into the UAS community

Jules Saari has participated in Sekava’s activities since 2023. They say that the biggest change recently has been the expansion of Sekava to include the Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK).

“I want to bring Sekava’s activities to the UAS community with a bang,” says Saari, who is studying social services at the main campus of TAMK in Kauppi.

“I have found new friends in Sekava. What motivates me to volunteer are the values of the LGBTQ+ community, which I want to promote,” Saari continues.

The sense of community is also what motivates Kuura Ahola to be active in the organisation. 

“This acts as a good counterbalance to studying.”

Kaitsu Dahlberg is motivated by contacts, friends and the chance to do something important for your community.

“It’s nice to be able to add something nice to people’s lives. Even if you don’t get paid, you get so much out of it. I’m a homebody, I like being at home. Sekava provides a good reason to get out once in a while,” he sums up.

Respect the chosen name

Jules Saari has noticed that the name issue sparks discussion among Sekava’s members. It concerns the contexts in which gender minority students can use their chosen first name, which they identify with, but which is not their official name. Students’ personal data are entered into the systems of Tampere University as they appear in the Population Information System.

“In every single course, you have to explicitly state that you want to use a different name,” observes Kuura Ahola. They themselves changed their official name before starting their studies.

Saari, who is studying at TAMK, contacted a student counsellor about their name.

“I’m a trans person. In my case, I was able to add my lived name to my e-mail and course details, even though my official name still appears in the Population Information System,” says Saari.

The gender identity of a trans or transgender person does not correspond to the sex assigned to them at birth.

According to Kaitsu Dahlberg, it is good practice to respect the name that a person chooses for themselves.

Ahola and Dahlberg encourage LGBTQ+ students to get involved in the activities of their local associations. And if you cannot find an LGBTQ+ community, they encourage you to start one – if you have the time, courage and energy to do so.