What is a GSA
To promote acceptance and pride, the Cape Breton Highlands Education Center GSA is going to be releasing an article in this newsletter for each installment.
The question for this month is: What is a GSA?
At its core, a GSA (or Gay-Straight Alliance) is a safe and supportive space for LGBTQ students and straight allies, and a place to raise awareness for issues concerning diversity and acceptance. While GSA is most commonly used as an initialism for “Gay-Straight Alliance”, anyone under the 2SLGBTQ umbrella and allies can participate. Some schools may even have it under a different name to make it clear that it’s a group for everyone.
The term “GSA” is still used because it has an important history surrounding it. Kevin Jennings, a history teacher at Concord University (West Virginia, USA) came out as gay and was approached by Meredith Sterling, a straight student at the school. She had been overhearing inappropriate and homophobic comments at the school, and having a lesbian mother, she felt complicit in that she wasn’t doing anything against it.
Together, they workshopped the idea of straight and gay people working against inequality, recruited teachers and students, and got to work. They focused on education and shined a light on LGBTQ issues. In 1990, Kevin Jennings founded the GLSEN, an organization that continues to support LGBTQ youth today.
“We were breaking new ground. It’s hard for people who weren’t alive then to understand how different things were 30 years ago.” -Kevin Jennings.
Even though they popularized the term “GSA”, in 2018, they changed the meaning of their acronym to “Gender-Sexuality Alliance”, to be more inclusive of those under the transgender or non-binary umbrella in the GSA. Regardless of what you call it, a GSA is a powerful tool for change that anyone can be a part of, and you can initiate change with it.
A group picture of the Concord Academy GSA, circa 1993
Stay tuned for our next article, focusing on Stonewall and the origin of Pride Month! For more information, visit the following links:
GLSEN
CONCORD ACADEMY GSA HISTORY
and edited/revised by members of the Cape Breton Highlands Education Center GSA.
