Leading a GSA
Charlie B.
Charlie B. is in eighth grade, and is the president of their school’s GSA in Washington, DC. Charlie offers experience and great advice when it comes to creating and leading a GSA!
The entire school year, GSA leaders have Pride month in the back of their minds, imagining all the projects, advocacy, and information sharing opportunities that will be in full bloom. It’s a thrilling time full of acceptance and visibility, but can also be a stressful one. As a new president of my middle school’s recently-formed Gender Sexuality Alliance, my first priority was to create a comfortable environment and a safe space. Because of this, it had been difficult to generate outreach opportunities, even just within our school community. Once Pride month (June) came into my periphery, it was time to start these projects. But what to do?
*Note: The culture of a GSA differs from group to group, and as such, so should the means of information sharing and what content you choose to share. Safety within the school and student community should be considered and accommodated. As a leader in a group, I need to be especially mindful of this, and it is a leader’s responsibility to keep members comfortable while also having the difficult discussions that come around during Pride.*
Any GSA’s goal for an “effective” Pride month should be education. I often lean towards open-ended conversations within the group surrounding LGBTQIA+ issues. These conversations are especially important during the month of June. You could talk about current laws, difficulties at school, difficulties in the family, social discrimination, or personal experiences. Let the conversation run its course with a few guiding questions. Once you have discussed and have talking points, open up the conversation! Offer a few questions to advisors to explore in small groups with all students. Make a slideshow about an issue your group spoke about and present it at an assembly. These are, additionally, excellent ways to introduce students not in the GSA to common topics, and it is important to share and hopefully receive new perspectives on these subjects. Another means to educate the school community could be posters around the building. No matter how simple the information is, it needs to be shared. A personal difficulty I have experienced in my leadership is trying to understand that there are infinitely different points of education among my peers. Any creation of educational content should optimally be made with that in mind, with simple descriptions of what Pride month is and why we need it. Whatever is shared, with any level of complexity, can be extremely beneficial to the representation and education toward the LGBT community.
For visual projects, creativity is extremely important to get your message across, and should not be overlooked. It also makes the content fun and interesting to read. Students might be more inclined to pay attention to the important things your GSA has to say when the material is colorful or cool to look at. Not to water down the intelligence of a middle schooler, but I love a fun poster. This is the point where you open up Canva and let your creativity shine. Use an unusual color palette for your poster! Make the information card in a fun shape or size! Use graphics and drawings! It sounds basic, but if you’re ever at a loss for what to put on your GSA projects: Go for a rainbow. When it is shared in a fun way, people will be more adept to pay attention to the information you’re trying to communicate. An interesting poster on the community board draws attention and possibly new members. Interactive cards make the information shared more interesting.
Here are a few projects I’ve done for the GSA in the past:
During Valentine’s day, I put a chocolate heart on the back of the card, and on Pride month, I attached rainbow skittles.
If your Gender Sexuality Alliance is looking for outreach and educational projects during Pride month, here are a few ideas to get you started:
Make a Kahoot! or Jeopardy game about the LGBTQIA+ community and/or the history of Pride month
Create Pride month information cards with candy on the back (bribery is a favorite tactic of mine)
Have the group make posters or pronoun pins to pass out
Give teachers small pride flags or “Safe Space” stickers to put in their classrooms
Put pieces of information about Pride month on posters throughout the building
Have members create pride flags on construction paper with their descriptions and attached identities
Create a video or slideshow of “Iconic LGBTQ+ Changemakers” through history and share with the larger school community
Ask a leader, teacher, or member of the GSA to make an announcement about Pride month during an assembly
Feature LGBTQ+ books/authors in the school library for checkout
Start classroom conversations about the LGBT community, relate it to the learning contents
While I’m no infallible leader, nor an incredible graphic designer, I truly do care about my GSA and its success. Success does not mean bringing in 10 new members every meeting, or even every year. I want our and all Gender Sexuality Alliances to be a safe space that encourages the education of all. That is what any project at any time should do, and Pride month is an incredible opportunity to encourage this healthy environment of teaching and learning. I encourage members and leaders and those considering joining to be constantly pushing these conversations and extending them to any space you find yourself in.
