Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA)1 is a club welcome to all students, no matter their background or what they identify as. At meetings they discuss a wide range of topics, from books and popular media to more serious topics like politics and finding demonstrations they can take part in.
“GSA is a student-run organization that meets once a week to discuss various LGBTQIA+ issues, concerns within the building and [concerns] outside of the building,” club sponsor Cael Joens said.
Gay-Straight Alliance is constantly looking to welcome new members.
“We are looking for new people, so if people are interested they can come.” Joens said, “The club itself is open not only to queer students but also open to straight students as well, hence the alliance part.”
With the new executive order that puts clubs that support DEI; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, at risk of being shut down, club members are worried if they will be able to continue the club they love.
“It saddens me, we’ve made so much progress as a school, as a community, all for it to be taken away just like that and it makes me wonder if there is anything we can even do about it,” club vice president Cal Loan said. “We have tried so hard to make this community, this school as inclusive and progressive as possible.”
The club already varies in attendance, ranging from the consistent eight members to 15. After the executive order is put in place, if the club remains active, the attendance could lessen dramatically. Yet, this won’t stop the students from trying to be heard.
“We are gonna try our hardest to remain together and to still express ourselves,” Loan said. “We plan to work together not only with other GSA’s from other school’s but also hopefully working with Key Club and Black Student Union, we would love to collaborate with them.”
The club currently meets once a week on Fridays, but they are flexible to schedule changes in order to allow as many people as possible to attend.
The meetings on average run for 1-2 hours, and consist of things like discussing the best books and movies, to the political changes that affect them.
“Usually we have some kind of opening discussion, sometimes [it’s a] fun topic, sometimes [we] play a game,” club vice president junior Cal Loan said. “[Then] we’ll get into our main discussion where sometimes we will discuss protests, activism issues, [or] politics that affect us.”
As a way to keep things lighthearted, they start and end with something fun, like a game.
“Normally our main topic is a little heavier so we like to open and close with [something] a little more light-hearted,” club president sophomore Cam Funderburk said.
Even though they discuss some heavy subjects once in a while, both Funderburk and Loan agree that the club has given them a lot of new friends they wouldn’t have met outside the club.
“I think it’s significant to all of our club members to find a sense of community, [to] know they have somewhere to go to talk about issues and stuff that happens at school,” Funderburk said.
