People know they can come to our meetings and be their true, authentic selves, at least for now. It’s turning from an after school club to a pillar of support.
This year, we have a much more important role to fill as Katy is cracking down on resources for queer students. Last year, we were doing fun activities, just normal bonding stuff. Kids have been beaten for mere suspicion of being queer - and then if you get a confirmation from the teacher, you can’t even imagine what that might result in. When lawmakers, school administrators, and coaches won’t support trans kids, it’s up to us to stand up for their rights.Ī lot of queer youth have very unaccepting parents and some of them would be put in physical danger if this policy was enforced. If people don’t support you, then you don’t need them in your life. It’s so important to have that community and people who support you. It just breaks my heart.įor other kids, I would say get involved in GSAs and find people who understand you as soon as possible. The outlook on GSAs from parents in the district is not very good. The issue has died down, but it’s still being contested in board meetings. We're still trying to get support from our district. We sought out support from our school's admin so that we would have backing from people with more power. We all watched the board meeting and decided we would be stronger as a GSA. It kept escalating into something that it shouldn’t have. It was started by allegations that GSAs were “grooming” kids by board members, and then a lot of the parents at school got involved. Our school board had an entire meeting about whether they should ban GSAs in the school district entirely it just broke me. It’s so disheartening to see adults who are against what we’re doing in the GSA. I live in a kind of conservative area of California, where we’re attacked by our school district and school board a lot. "People know they can come to our meetings and be their true, authentic selves, at least for now." These laws and daily experiences have made it more important to have a supportive and secure community at school because people can’t do that in our town. When I realized that, I joined the GSA, and it’s now my main goal to have a space for everyone, because there are a lot of kids who aren’t out to their parents. There are a lot of us here, but we’re not represented. There’s an underlying sense of dread: “If I tell someone my name, will they still like me or will they spread it around?” Texas has a high population of trans people. The fear is not with my peers it’s mainly with the adults. There’s this fear of having to always look over your shoulder if someone finds out that you use a different name - for example, an administrator who could contact your parents and out you based on new laws. That can bring physical danger or ostracization. It’s dangerous to have a Pride flag or anything resembling queerness. With all of the anti-trans legislation that has been proposed, if you were to say your pronouns or your name, it can get you into danger. "The fear is not with my peers it’s mainly with the adults.
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