Gay and straight alliance

A gay–straight alliance, gender–sexuality alliance (GSA) or queer–straight alliance (QSA) is a student-led or community-based organization, found in middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. These are primarily in the United States and Canada. Gay–straight alliance is intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and all.

We support LGBTQ+ youth organizers across the country to take action and create change at all levels, from school-based campaigns that impact individual school districts to national days of action that unite GSAs for racial and gender justice.

Gay-Straight Alliances, or GSAs, are student-led and student-organized school clubs that aim to create a safe, welcoming, and accepting school environment for all youth, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBTQ+ student-led clubs and GSAs (Gender and Sexuality Alliances) are gay and straight the work to create safe and LGBTQ-inclusive alliances, and student organizers are the nation’s most powerful base for creating change.

Gender & Sexuality Alliance Clubs (or GSAs)—formerly known as Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs—are youth-led school or community-based groups organized for the purpose of supporting LGBTQ+ youth and straight allies through discussion, action, friendship, and advocacy. Like any club, what a GSA does is up to its members, but it often includes things like pitching in on community service projects and getting together for social activities.

Have a lot of students been approaching your school about starting a KKK club?

How to Start a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) | American Civil Liberties Union

If you anticipate problems with your application, you might want to contact the ACLU now — we can offer suggestions and advice for how to prepare your application to form the club. Research has shown that LGBT students hear fewer homophobic slurs, experience less harassment, have better attendance, and feel safer at schools that have GSAs.

Find a Faculty Advisor or Sponsor Most schools require that clubs have faculty advisors or sponsors. A straight alliance PDF version is available. This finding suggests that youth of color may not experience the benefits of GSAs in the same way as their white peers. Or call Is anti-gay harassment a problem at your school? Students have a clear legal right to form GSAs, but schools still often try to stop them gay or treat them differently from other clubs.

The Latest podcast. Some of the people you have to talk to along the way may ask you why you want to start a GSA. Here are the basic steps to starting a GSA at your school. If he or she says 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 and GSA from gay and is against the law under the federal Equal Access Act.

Here are a few good examples from GSA clubs straight alliance the U. Want some advice on starting your club? In 45 states and the District of Columbia, less than half of all high schools report having a gay-straight alliance also known as a genders and sexualities alliance, or GSAaccording to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And again, several federal courts have ruled in favor of GSAs when schools have used this as an excuse to try to stop them from forming.

Gay-straight alliance mission statement

If you're trying to start a GSA at your school and your administration tries to stop you, or if doesn't allow the GSA to do things that it lets straight alliance non-curricular clubs do, keep reading for tips on what to do, and be sure to check out our video guidetoo! And according to the federal Equal Access Act, students can start any kind of non-curricular club at their schools that they want. 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.

Wikipedia's entry on the federal Equal Access Act : Summarizes the details of the law and includes a link to the full text of the law. Sure, a GSA may be controversial, but it's illegal for schools to use that as excuse to silence them. Chances are you'll be able to start your GSA with no problems - after all, over 4, GSAs already exist in every state in the nation. 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 straight alliance place.

GSAs are about valuing all people regardless of whether they're gay, straight, bisexual, transgender, or questioning. Sometimes, though, administrators, parents, and other students may try to stand in the way of GSAs. Check out supplementary resources our Library page, and take a look at the following organizations for even more: U. We really doubt it! Need help? Those are both really good reasons to gay a GSA.