LET ME SHARE with you a rather unpleasant anecdote. At last year's USI annual congress, which was marred by some nasty demonstrations of homo phobia and the baiting of homosexual candidates, a chap approached me in the toilet of the Ardilaun Hotel, Galway.

A representative of a college outside the Pale, he named one of the unsuccessful candidates in that day's USI election, who was - not entirely coincidentally - homosexual, and commented. "He's a friend of your's, isn't he?"

Not wishing to pull a St Peter, I said that, yes, he was a friend. I received a hearty clap on the back. "Ah, it's all right, we've nothing against him - but we weren't going to put a queer in Dublin.

There is a peculiar ambivalence to the attitude of a significant number of students - and, in some cases, their colleges - to homosexuality, given the tradition of liberalism which is supposed to lie at the heart of the university sector in particular. Some years ago there was the noisome spectacle of the Maynooth authorities trying to eliminate signs of homosexuality in the college by banning a gay and lesbian society.

At least one college has indicated to USI officers that it will never tolerate a lesbian, gay and bisexual (LOB) group, and one of the largest colleges in the country, which shall remain nameless for the present, does not have much of an LOB society at all.

This is not because it does not have any significant numbers of gays, lesbians or, for that matter, bisexuals rather, it is because those whose sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual are afraid to say so - discouraged by both the conservative ethos of the college and the fact that, two years ago, a number of students returning from a gay-pride march through Dublin found themselves the victims of a nasty beating.

At this year's USI congress in Westport, Co -Mayo, the decision was taken to appoint a full- time sabbatical LOB officer from the start of the next academic year. This represents a considerable commitment to the LOB issue by the national union, but USI's current part-time LOB convenor, Duane Farrell, believes that it will be money.

"The LOB campaign has been running on the basis of 30 dedicated students throughout the North and South," he says. "Statistically, there are 15,000 LOB students out there. The fact that they don't feel comfortable enough to get involved in the campaign - and don't feel comfortable enough to get involved in student politics in general - is one - of the reasons why there is a need for LOB officers."

While students generally are perceived as being liberal, the reality is somewhat different. Even USI HQ itself has not been immune to homo phobia, with a poster depicting two men kissing as part of a safe-sex campaign daubed with the slogan "Oay sex is unnatural", leading one to suspect that the writer had never noticed how odd even heterosexual practices looks from the outside.

"There are still a lot of people to inform about what the reality is, as opposed to the stereotype, Farrell says. "The reality is very far from the stereotype. The stereotype of students is that they are liberated - they enjoy going out and having a drink and have very liberal views of society in general.

The reality, in Farrell's view, is that the conditioning imposed by society is very difficult to break "and a lot of people just don't examine it. Peer pressure would play a big part here. When you go in with the lads, you automatically want to be one of the gang and you won't stand out on your own and challenge views.

"It's normal to a certain extent, but there is a time when you have to stand up and challenge the views. I would say that students aren't the most liberated in matters of sexual orientation and sexual identity.

Farrell sees the role of the USI LOB officer as both supporting LOB students - including encouraging them to run for LOB positions in their own colleges - and challenging the views that exist in certain sections of the student population. These prejudices could be addressed through the use of road shows and presentations at colleges.

The perceptions to be challenged range from outright hostility to the views of those who say, as Farrell puts it, "I haven't got a problem as long as you keep it to yourselves and do it behind closed doors." He calls this "a classic `trying to be liberal remark".

RTCs can be particularly difficult environments for LOB students "purely because they are smaller colleges", Farrell says. "The students would all know each other better on a more intimate level, whereas in university they can remain anonymous. The towns the RTCs are in also don't tend-to have a gay scene. None of these are conducive to a homo-friendly atmosphere."

However, he points out, life can be made difficult for LOB students whatever the college - bigotry may just be more surprising when it is - encountered in universities. To their credit, a lot of students' union officers in the RTCs have been working hard to tackle the old stereotypes and perceptions Galway RTC in particular has worked hard on the issue.

COLLEGE AUTHORITIES too have their part to play. "They are not making enough of an effort even for lecturers," says Farrell. "There is another problem there facing gay, lesbian or bisexual lecturers."

He suggests the subject should be raised with staff, to make them aware of sexuality as an issue among both students and staff, "to make them aware of how even a throwaway remark can impact on some- one coming to terms with his or her sexuality.

"The ideal situation for me would be that there would be no need for LOB officers at all. I think we have a fair bit to go to that. I think the first step has been made now, in that USI will have a full-time LOB rights officer.

That first full-time LOB rights officer for the national students' union will be elected next month.