Let's Start a GSA!
by Lucy Goldberg"Let's start a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA). " I have no idea where this thought came from, or who said it first. The event most likely occurred on a warm October day when, Kristi (my co-founder), and I were stranded after school with nothing to do but watch the boy's soccer team scrimmage. Surely an odd place for two girls to find the inspiration for starting a GSA, but somehow the idea voiced itself.
In the following weeks, the idea, like any great idea, continued to tantalize us with possibilities and eventually evolved into a goal to be accomplished as soon as possible. After searching for resources, I found the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network's (GLSEN) website. We downloaded and printed out the GLSEN Jumpstart, and dutifully began to skim the remarkably heavy document outlining the steps for setting up a GSA. After inquiring into our school's policy for starting a club, we discovered the first, and most important step, is finding an advisor. Finding an advisor is not something to compromise on; it takes a teacher who is nice enough to stay after school and has the free time. It also helps if the teacher is interested in and supports what the club is about. With these goals in mind, we went after the first target, our French teacher from freshman year. We pitched the club, and, as we'd hoped, she seemed interested in our idea and willing to help us out. Deciding that starting a club thing was going to be a breeze, Kristi and I began to relax a little. We often envisioned all that we would accomplish, and had even visited the GSA at Colts Neck High to get ideas about running the club, when the French teacher backed out. From then on in, we realized how wrong we had been. Despite the setback, we told her we understood—a person's life can get awfully busy—and started wondering where to find our next candidate. She kindly offered to help us find other teachers to approach, and we gladly accepted.
For the next three months our search continued in this fashion, asking teachers that had been recommended to us by other teachers, until we had an informal committee of faculty that was totally willing to help us get started, but not actually committing to anything. We were pleasantly surprised at the response we got from these teachers and decided to take their goodwill as a sign that someday we would find our advisor. Finally, word came to us that Mr. Flynn, one of the guidance counselors, would be thrilled to supervise our club and wanted to meet with us. We set up a conference with Mr. Flynn in the beginning of February, and assuring us that he would get everything else in order, we scheduled our first meeting with the feeling that we were achieving our goal. We furthered this feeling by outlining a mission statement and christening the club Gay, Lesbian, Or Whatever (GLOW).
Starting GLOW, or any club, is definitely a learning experience. It takes a lot of skill to run a successful organization, something that Kristi and I are still working on. As with anything worth doing, running GLOW is not always easy or immediately rewarding, but in the long run it has given me opportunities to meet new people and take responsibility for my own actions. My experiences starting this club have been many things, but all of them make me very glad I listened to that voice that said, "Let's start a GSA."
Article written for and printed In New Jersey Gaze Magazine, June 2005, for Asbury Park Gay Pride Celebration
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
