Did you know there’s a club at Patriot dedicated to promoting inclusivity and understanding? Well, there is! It’s officially known as the Gay-Straight Alliance Club (GSA). But what exactly is the GSA club and why do we need it? What is the importance of recognizing and embracing our differences?
The Gay-Straight Alliance Club has faced many challenges, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, before eventually regaining its strength in recent years. The current president, Zoe Jane Anderson, describes the decline during COVID as a “kind of dwindling down.” Luckily, she says, they “helped revitalize it after, after COVID.”
After the revitalization of the club, it continued to prosper and gain new members. The club became a beacon of light for some students. A common misconception of the gathering is its purpose and member requirements. Many students on campus believe the club to be one only for gay people, however, this could not be further from the truth. Ms. Anderson told the press “We do have straight members… So, it’s not only for gay people.” In truth, the GSA club is built for exactly what it says—gay-straight alliances. Creating these alliances aids the club in achieving its prime objective: to provide a safe space, void of judgment, where members can be open in displaying who they are.
The GSA club’s goal is exactly what makes the club important and necessary! Unfortunately, the club and its members have faced discrimination for simply being who they are. Anderson recalls her experience, saying “I've… been the butt of… a lot of jokes.” Despite this, she found a sense of belonging within the welcoming community that the GSA club has created.
By fostering inclusivity and kindness, we will bring people together and create a more welcoming environment—exactly what the GSA club strives for! Anderson defined kindness with a single word: understanding. Every day, we take small steps toward becoming more compassionate. Simply listening to a person with an open mind and a judgment-free heart humanizes them. Leading a life free of prejudice, regardless of personal beliefs, helps create a truly beautiful world.
Zoe Anderson reflects her entry into the GSA club with an overwhelmingly positive outlook. She shares how her club has helped her become “more open-minded because [she has] met a lot of new people who come from different backgrounds, different identities, different everything.” In a world of eight billion people, each person carries their own unique story and identity. Understanding and embracing these differences is what’s at the heart of the GSA club’s mission—to create a community where gay-straight alliances can thrive; to create a world in which people will not be judged by their sexual orientation or physical appearance but by the content of their character.
“Don’t be mean. We’re just people, and we wanna exist. We wanna simply coexist.”
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