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START A GAY/STRAIGHT ALLIANCE
Steps to Get There
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Here are the basic steps to starting a GSA at your school. Depending on where you live and what your school's like, chances are you'll be able to start your GSA with no problems -- after all, thousands of GSA's already exist across the United States. Sometimes, though, administrators, parents, or other students try to stand in the way of GSA's. Just in case that happens at your school, we're including information on how to handle opposition.
Some of the people you have to talk to along the way may ask you why you want to start a GSA. That's not a bad question to ask yourself. Under the law, you don't have to have a reason to start a non-curricular club, but it's important to be able to rationally explain your reasons for wanting a GSA to people who oppose your or just want to know more about what you're doing. Is anti-gay harassment a problem at your school? Are there LGBT students or allies who want a safe, supportive space?
Starting a GSA is just like starting any other school club. Get a copy of your student handbook, and look up your school's requirements for student organizations so that you can be sure to follow the rules carefully. Some of the things you may have to do are find a faculty advisor or write a constitution or mission statement.
Here are a couple of GSA mission statements to give you some idea of what you might include in yours:
Boyd County High School GSA, Ashland, Kentucky:
The mission of the BCHS Gay-Straight Alliance is one of learning, support, understanding, tolerance, and acceptance. Operating under the ethos that every experience in diversity is a learning experience, the BCHS Gay-Straight Alliance believes the immense diversity in sexual orientation among its students and personnel provides an excellent opportunity to learn from one another. We strive to provide a safe and friendly atmosphere in which students may learn and personnel may perform their duties. We will accomplish this by utilizing educational programs and the promotion of tolerance, understanding, and acceptance through social awareness. Desirous to end the spread of hatred, homophobia, and related harassment and violence, the BCHS Gay-Straight Alliance will be working in conjunction with the BCHS Human Rights Club and various other clubs to facilitate unity in our school and community.
Groton-Dunstable High School GSA, Groton, Massachusetts:
OUR MISSION STATEMENT IS…
- to create a safe school environment for people who feel threatened or unable to perform as vital members of the school community for reasons including sexual orientation, ethnicity or religious beliefs.
- to work to educate students and faculty on issues of diversity and to raise the awareness of the community.
- to provide support and education for students who are or have family members and friends who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender.
- to provide a link to the state wide efforts to educate the public about issues of homophobia.
Almost all schools require that clubs have faculty advisors or sponsors. And even if your school doesn't require one, it's a good idea to have one. Ask a teacher (or, if your school allows them to be club advisors, a staff member like a counselor or librarian) who has shown herself or himself to be supportive of LGBT students to be the advisor or sponsor for your GSA. Your faculty advisor can help with things like writing a constitution and explaining why you want to start a GSA to others. Keep in mind that if your school isn't very friendly to the idea of a GSA, some teachers who want to help may be more comfortable doing so in a more behind-the-scenes way.
Talk to your school principal or assistant principal and let him or her know that you plan to start a GSA. A supportive administrator can really help you move things along, and if he or she isn't supportive, then at least you'll know where he or she stands. If he or she tries to tell you that a GSA won't be allowed, ask why so that you can prepare yourself to address his or her concerns and tell him or her that preventing a GSA from forming is against the law under the federal Equal Access Act. You can take the time to respond to your administrator's arguments against forming a GSA in the next step.
Make sure you follow the rules thoroughly and correctly. This is a good time to address any concerns or arguments your administrator may have brought up earlier (check out "Common arguments against GSA's - and why they're wrong" if you need to do this). Keep dated copies of any forms or other paperwork you have to turn in for your club application, and keep notes on when and to whom you turned them in to as well as any conversations you have with school officials about starting the club. If your school gives you any trouble later on down the line about starting your GSA, then at least they won't be able to say they're doing it because you didn't sign a required form or made some other mistake with your application.
If your school turns you down or tries to place restrictions on you that it doesn't place on other clubs, though, you should contact the ACLU for help.
"We can't let our students have a club that's about sex."
GSA's are not about sex. GSA's are about valuing all people regardless of whether they're gay, straight, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning. GSA's are like any other club: they offer students with a common interest a chance to connect and give students a respite from the day-to-day grind of school. They're about creating a supportive space where students can be themselves without fear and making schools safer for all students by promoting respect for everyone. A GSA meeting is no more about sex than any other school-sponsored activity.
"We can't let outsiders come in and start this kind of club in our school."
GSA's aren't formed by outsiders. GSA's are student-led and student-organized. While there are a couple of organizations that have tried to create contact lists or loose coalitions of the many GSA clubs across the country, there is no big, evil national GSA organization out there trying to get its hands on the youth of America. And according to the federal Equal Access Act, students can start any kind of club at their schools that they want.
"It's just too controversial."
Sure, a GSA may be controversial, but if the students in the GSA aren't disrupting school, then the school can't use that as excuse to silence them. If other students, parents, or community members are in an uproar over a GSA, the school should then address those people's concerns - not shut down a group that is peacefully doing its thing just because some people don't like it. Besides, when a GSA becomes a point of contention in a community, it really only proves the need for the GSA to exist in the first place.
"If we let students start a GSA, then we'd have to let students form any other kind of club they want. What if they wanted to start a KKK club?"
If a club's purpose is to harass or intimidate other students, then the club is disruptive to the educational process and the school can stop it from forming -- so this kind of argument just doesn't work. Letting students start a GSA doesn't mean all those other crazy sorts of clubs principals say they're so scared of are going to actually materialize out of thin air. Have a lot of students approached your school about starting a KKK club? We doubt it.
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