National Student Pride 2009 got under way in real style at Brighton's Oceana this afternoon. With stalls from LGBT organisations and businesses, live music from singer/songwriters and with the main event being a question time panel with a line-up of top notch speakers - all packed into a venue that seemed to suit the occasion perfectly.

Tom Guy, the chair of National Student Pride, was joined by the mayor to officially open the event, and a lively debate followed with a really interesting panel of speakers. Questions from the floor helped spice things up, with Aled Haydn Jones getting a grilling on whether the BBC was homophobic and giving us the insider's perspective.

Wes Streeting expertly chaired the debate, and the panel was made up of Chris Bryant MP, Dan Gillespie Sells (lead singer, The Feeling), Aled Haydn Jones (Chris Moyles show), Jane Czyzselska (Diva editor), Chris Gibbons (Stonewall), Nigel Tart (LGBT Green Party spokesperson), Rev Debbie Gaston (Brighton Metropolitan Community Church) and Persia West (trans activist).

Following this exchange of opinions in the Ice House room, the irreverent Psycho Fags (minus his binbags) grabbed his mic, his crotch and a bottle of beer and performed to a disappointingly small crowd given that he's such good value on stage... maybe his reputation needs to precede him a bit more thoroughly - he's a wonder to behold! There were readings from lesbian authors in the Ski Lodge (including Vg Lee, Frances Gapper and Rose Collis), and there were singer/songwriter performances throughout the afternoon in The Deep room. We caught the tail end of Gwenno from the Pippetes singing along to her bizarrely plinky-plonk backing.

As the afternoon drew to a close people started to drift townwards to gather for the 2009 multi-uni pub crawl...