LGBTQ+ students often experience negative school environments, where they are subject to victimization based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. They need a safe place at school to feel supported and secure. A GSA which is short for the Gay-Straight Alliance or Gender-Sexualities Alliance is just such a place. It is a club where students can learn how to be better allies, learn about LGBTQ+ history, and support each other through hard times. A GSA is a student lead organization which provides a creative outlet for students to express themselves. Out of 45 states, less than half of all high schools allow students to have GSA’s. The schools that do allow GSA’s have conditions such as not allowing promotion of the organization, and only meeting at a specific time or monitoring every meeting.

All schools should have a GSA because it is a safe place for  LGBTQ+ students to express who they are and acts as an ally for all students.

A GSA is  a safe place for students especially those who are LGBTQ+. By providing security and comfort for students, All students need a place where they can feel safe and be comfortable because it can help with brain development, dealing with anxiety, fear, and can create a positive outlet for someone to talk through issues or just be themselves. 

GSA’s allow students to be seen, heard, and accepted. Students who are labeled as “outcasts” are unimportant to the status quo and therefore have no opinion or say. Outcasts aren’t heard or seen which later in life can turn into issues like depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, feeling unwanted, or like you dont belong. In a GSA everyone is accepted no matter your position in the status quo.

Many GSA’s teach about events in history that aren’t in the school curriculum. Such as, the speech “We are everywhere” which was a march on Washington, the “Don’t Say Gay” bills which is a current event going on in the United States that restricts LGBTQ+- related programs. Being involved in a GSA provides an opportunity to learn new things about our past and present. By allowing GSA’s to form it allows LGBTQ+ students to learn historical events from a new perspective, and teaches parts of history that can help them figure out who they are and what they stand for.

Those that oppose it say that if we say that if we let students start a GSA, then we’d have to let students form any other kind of club. What if the students wanted to start a KKK club?  But If the club’s purpose is to harm or intimidate others, then the club is disruptive to the educational process and a public school can legally stop it.

A solution to this issue would be to hold GSA meetings like any other club with a teacher sponsor, elected officers, a meeting agenda, and planned events that are on the school calendar. The GSA club would follow school guidelines like any other club. That way everyone including administrators and students are on the same page and know what is going on from week to week.

All schools should have a GSA so that students can learn crucial parts of their history, and help them feel comfortable and secure. These feelings allow growth and development in aspects of students’ lives.