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Revision as of 12:17, 20 July 2014

Gay–straight alliance
Membership
At least 4000 chapters[1]
The pride flag, news articles, and flyers for social events on this high school bulletin board represent the diverse support and advocacy purposes that GSAs serve.

Gay–straight alliances are student-led organizations, found primarily in North American high schools, colleges and universities, that are intended to provide a safe, supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth and their straight allies.

Goal

The goal of most gay–straight alliances is to make their school community safe, facilitate activism on campus, and create a welcoming environment for all students regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. They participate in national campaigns to raise awareness, such as the Day of Silence, National Coming Out Day, No Name Calling Week, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Harvey Milk Day, GSA Day or locally organized campaigns. Many GSAs work with local chapters of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) or Gay-Straight Alliance Network, a national organization supporting youth leadership. The registered number of GSAs with GLSEN is over 4000, as of 2008.[1] In California, there are over 880 GSAs [2] registered, representing over half of California's high schools. Over half the states in the United States have one or more statewide groups that work with GSAs. Many of these state based groups and local chapters of GLSEN participate in the National Association of GSA Networks. GSA Networks have been formed to help local area students to network and connect to local resources, provide training for youth leaders, and sponsor local GSA efforts.

Some GSAs change their name to place less emphasis on the word "gay," resulting in alternatives such as "Project Rainbow," "Pride Alliance," "Common Ground," "Coexist", "Spectrum," "Queer-Straight Alliance" or even the "Straight-Gay Alliance." Similarly, the substitute "Gender-Sexuality Alliance" is also a popular choice do to being considerably more inclusive of the entire gender-sexuality spectrum without placing emphasis on any specific gender or sexuality. There are continued efforts to make GSAs and like programs accepting of a wide range of individuals. The common acronym "LGBT" can include many additional letters including "QQASIP": corresponding to queer, questioning, asexual or allied, straight, intersex and pansexual.

History in the United States

One of the first GSAs was started in 1988, in Concord, Massachusetts at Concord Academy by Kevin Jennings, the founder and head of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network GLSEN. The first public school gay–straight alliance was started at Newton South High School (Newton Centre, Massachusetts) by teacher Robert Parlin.[3] GSAs made headlines in 1999 with the Federal Court ruling in Utah–East High Gay/Straight Alliance v. Board of Education of Salt Lake City School District (81 F. Supp.2d 1166, 1197 (D. Utah 1999)). This ruling found that denying access to a school-based Gay-Straight Alliance was a violation of the Federal Equal Access Act giving students the right to use facilities for extra curricular activities at any school that receives public funding - regardless of private standing or religious affiliation.

On January 24, 2012, Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, released a GSA PSA on YouTube commemorating GSA Day and endorsing GSA clubs in schools.

Opposition

Some students face opposition from school administrations, elected school boards, or local communities in starting a school GSA. Students at West Carteret High School in Morehead City, North Carolina tried to start a GSA but the Carteret County Board of Education turned it down.[citation needed] In 1999, the Orange Unified School District in Orange County, California voted unanimously to prohibit the formation of a GSA at El Modena High School. The students sued the school board, claiming that their rights under the First Amendment and the 1984 Equal Access Act had been violated. In the first-ever ruling of its kind, Judge David O. Carter of the United States District Court for the Central District of California issued a preliminary injunction ordering the school to allow the GSA to meet.[4]

History outside the United States

United Kingdom

Worldwide Gay Straight Alliances aren't as popular as they are in the United States but are beginning to take-off slowly. In the UK there has always been more of an emphasis on stand alone lesbian and gay youth groups that take place outside of the school setting, often funded by the local health authority or education service. The first GSA in the UK was founded in 2000 by CN Lester at Putney High School GDST, and led in part to the formation of Queer Youth Network.The second GSA in the UK was started in 2010 at Shimna Integrated College in Northern Ireland. Another GSA started in 2012 by Copland Community school in Wembley. The setting up of the club has subsequently resulted in the school being known for 'tackling the difficult issues'.

Mexico

The first GSA in Mexico was begun by a group of students in 2004 at the American School Foundation, a private American school in Mexico City. The GSA was initially opposed by several school board members and a small group of religious conservative parents. But the students eventually won and formed the student club. The GSA's co-advisor, Ian K. Macgillivray, wrote several articles detailing his students' experiences, as well as the book, Gay-Straight Alliances: A Handbook for Students, Educators, and Parents (2007, Harrington Park Press).[5][6]

Canada

Beyond a school group the Toronto District School Board has been committed to an unwritten alliance with their students, funding the Triangle Program at OASIS Alternative School, designed for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students who are at risk of dropping out or committing self-harm because of harassment in regular schools.

The first GSA in Canada was started at Pinetree Secondary School in Coquitlam, British Columbia in 1998. The start of the Pinetree GSA garnered national media attention, and its members continued to play a role in public affairs by meeting with successive provincial Ministers of Education, testifying before the B.C. Safe Schools Task Force on anti-bullying, and delivering workshops to students and educators about LGBT-sensitive inclusive language and how to start GSAs. In early 2002, the Pinetree GSA held the first Pride Day at a high school in Canada. The Pride Day included an information fair with booths from various local LGBT organizations, PrideTalk workshops delivered in numerous classes, and an assembly with a talk on transgender rights and a performance by G.L.A.S.S., a local LGBT youth choir.

In Saskatchewan, Carlton Comprehensive High School houses one of the first GSA movements in the city of Prince Albert. The first GSA in the city of Saskatoon first met on March 18, 2003 at Mount Royal Collegiate.[7] Since then, GSAs have been established at Nutana, Walter Murray, Evan Hardy, Marion Graham, Bedford Road and Aden Bowman Collegiates. The city of North Battleford Saskatchewan, had their first GSA in 2004 at Sakewew high school, a First Nations school.

Parkside high school (Dundas, Ontario) held the first Gay-Straight-Alliance assembly in Canada, in 2011.

In Ontario, Arnprior District High school, a small rural Ottawa Valley town started a GSA created by the students in 2009. This GSA won one of three Jer's Vision "Youth Role Model of The Year" awards in April 2009.[8] The next year a GSA was founded by students in 2010 at Renfrew Collegiate Institute in the town of Renfrew.[9]

In May 2010 Egale Canada launched MyGSA.ca, a website focused on GSAs and their role in making Canadian schools safer and more LGBTQ inclusive. As part of MyGSA.ca's mission the site maintains an online directory of Canadian GSAs and provided resources and information to students who wish to start a GSA in their school and for teachers who wish to support them.[10] In December 2011, the government of the most populous Canadian province, Ontario, announced it would bring a legislation making it mandatory for all publicly funded schools to support the formation of "tolerance clubs" and student associations. Gay-Straight clubs were to be specifically mentioned in that act. The main focus of that legislation would be to counterattack bullying of students, particularly those of a racial or sexual minority.[11]

Netherlands

The first GSAs in the Netherlands were started in 2009. At the beginning of 2011, a nationwide campaign was started on television to promote GSAs in Dutch schools, featuring several well-known young actors and singers. A number of GSAs already exist in a wide variety of Dutch schools throughout the country, most of them at the university level, but increasingly popular on secondary school level.

New Zealand

In 2011, Nelson College became the first all-boys college in New Zealand to form a GSA (Gay and Straight Alliance) support group.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Top 5 Frequently Asked Questions from the Media". GLSEN. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  2. ^ michelle. "GSA Network". GSA Network. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  3. ^ Jennings, Kevin: Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir, page 196. Beacon Press, 2006.
  4. ^ Colin ex rel. Colin v. Orange Unified School District, 83 F. Supp. 2d 1135 (C.D. Cal. 2000).
  5. ^ Macgillivray, Ian (2005). "Shaping Democratic Identities and Building Citizenship Skills Through Student Activism: Mexico's First Gay-Straight Alliance". Equity & Excellence in Education. 38 (4): 320–330. doi:10.1080/10665680500299783.
  6. ^ Macgillivray, Ian (2006). "The Struggle for Mexico's First Gay-Straight Alliance: Como una Novela Real". Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education. 4 (1): 33–46. doi:10.1300/J367v04n01_04.
  7. ^ "Celebrating a History of Diversity: Lesbian and Gay Life in Saskatchewan, 1971 - 2006". Library2.usask.ca. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  8. ^ "Jer's Vision 5th Anniversary Gala (April 14th, 2010)". Jersvision.blogspot.com. 2010-03-10. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  9. ^ "Constitution: Renfrew Collegiate Institute Gay/Straight Alliance". Rcigsa.wikispaces.com. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  10. ^ "GSA Directory".[dead link]
  11. ^ "Huffington Post; Dec.15,2011". Huffingtonpost.ca. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  12. ^ Roberts, Adam (6 April 2011). "Boys' college backs gay, straight students". The Nelson Mail. Retrieved 28 October 2011.

Sources

  • Denina, Chris. "Gay Club Loses Touro OK." Vallejo Times-Herald 9 Sept. 2006: A1 [1][dead link]
  • Buchanan, Wyatt. "Gay rights group's charter is revoked." San Francisco Chronicle 12 Sept 2006: B5. [2]
  • American Medical Student Association. 11 Sept. 2006: "Medical Students at TU to protest Abolition of Gay-Straight Alliance Group" [3][dead link]
  • Gay Lesbian Medical Association. 09 Sept. 2006: "GLMA Decries Decision by Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine to Ban Gay Straight Alliance Student Group." [4]
  • Denina, Chris. "Touro's provost says gay group wasn't dropped." Vallejo Times-Herald 12 Sept 2006: A1. [5][dead link]
  • Buchanan, Wyatt. "Gay rights group not banned, school says." San Francisco Chronicle. 13 Sept 2006: B4. [6]
  • Johnson, Brooke (May 2008). "Out but not loud. Even as acceptance grows, gay DOs, students remain wary" (PDF). The DO magazine. American Osteopathic Association: 36–41.[dead link]
  • Press release GSA Netherlands. [7]

External links

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