Gay-Straight Alliances

A Handbook for Students, Educators, and Parents

Ian K. Macgillivray

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317712510
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación general

A step by step guide to the school club that provides a safe place for LGBT and straight kids A Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) provides a safe place for students to discuss issues, meet others, and get support from those who care. Gay-Straight Alliances: A Handbook for Students, Educators, and Parents explains exactly how to begin this important type of school club that helps build positive relationships and promotes knowledge and tolerance. This guide tells students what it takes to start a GSA at their school, teachers how best to work with GSAs, and helps principals and superintendents to understand the applicable laws. Parents who read this book can discover for themselves just how positive an influence the GSA may be in their child's life. Beginning a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) takes courage as well as the support of educators and parents. Gay-Straight Alliances: A Handbook for Students, Educators, and Parents discusses all aspects of this type of school club, including the issues and challenges students will face when forming it. Teachers are given helpful perspectives on how to meet the inevitable concerns of parents and public officials and how to be an effective advisor. Principals and school officials are given an overview of the federal laws and the responsibility of schools to adhere to them. The book includes appendixes with helpful resources on sexual orientation and gender identity development, LGBT issues and schools, and the 1984 Federal Equal Access Act. Topics in Gay-Straight Alliances: A Handbook for Students, Educators, and Parents include:

• starting a GSA in ten steps
  
• how teachers and counselors can work with GSAs
  
• including transgender students
  
• First Amendment rights
  
• 1984 Federal Equal Access Act
  
• Title IX
  
• a review of federal guidelines for religious expression in public schools
  
• school anti-harassment policies
  
• understanding the opposition-with strategies for working with them
  
• working with parents
  
• common misconceptions about GSAs

Gay-Straight Alliances: A Handbook for Students, Educators, and Parents is a valuable guide for students wanting to start a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at their school, for teachers on how to best work with GSAs, for principals and superintendents on GSAs and the law, and for parents who have children in schools with GSAs.

Chapter 1

What Is a Gay-Straight Alliance?

A gay-straight alliance (GSA) is a student club that provides a safe place for students to discuss issues that are important to them, to meet others with similar interests, and to get support from one another and from caring adults. GSAs have been around since the late 1980s. The very first GSA was formed in 1988 by a group of students at a high school in Massachusetts, advised by Kevin Jennings, Executive Director of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), who was then a history teacher. Since then, GSAs have spread across the country and around the world. There are now more than 3000 GSAs in all fifty states in the United States and the numbers increase almost every day (GLSEN, 2005).

GSAs are open to all students and serve an especially important role for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students, children of LGBT parents, and straight student allies. Like any other student club, GSAs are started by students, for students. According to the 1984 Federal Equal Access Act, people from the community cannot initiate or regularly attend student clubs in public schools. Although teachers and other school personnel are permitted to supervise student clubs, the agendas are set by the students and the meetings are student-led.

GSAs usually meet during lunch or after school and like any student club, may not interfere with regular class time. The 1984 Federal Equal Access Act requires that GSAs be treated like any other school club, which includes equal access to funding, school newspapers, yearbook photos, meeting space, bulletin boards, and the public address system. The law mandates that as long as a school allows one student club to meet on school grounds, it must allow the same for all other student clubs (see Chapter 4 for provisions and exceptions to this rule). Students in GSAs engage in similar activities as other clubs, which may include organizing fund-raisers and other social events, peer education and support, community service, and political activism. Belonging to a GSA, or any other student club for that matter, provides students with opportunities to associate with others who have similar interests and to extend their educational experiences beyond the classroom.

GSAs are not without their detractors, however. Religious fundamentalist parents are usually the first to object when a school in their community forms a GSA. Their main concern is that the school will teach their children values with which they disagree. These parents believe that schools endorse homosexuality when they allow GSAs to form and that it sends the message “It’s okay to be gay.” Religious fundamentalist parents do not want their children getting this message in school. They also believe that being gay entails only one thing—sex. Thus, they are left to conclude that GSAs promote sex, which is why they sometimes refer to GSAs as “sex clubs.” What they do not understand, however, is that being gay entails much more than sex, just as being straight entails more than sex.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Everybody has a sexual orientation. It encompasses to whom one is attracted, both sexually and romantically. LGBT is the acronym most often used to refer to people who are not heterosexual and/or not gender typical—that is, people who bend the rules of gender. It’s easier to say “LGBT” than it is “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.” Many people add Q to the acronym—as in LGBTQ—and Q stands for “queer.” Whereas queer was once a dirty word, it has since been reclaimed by some people who proudly label themselves as queer. Some see it as a political statement, and others believe the term includes all people who are not heterosexual, or who do not fit into traditional gender role stereotypes.

When discussing sexual orientation, it is important to make the distinction between identity and behavior. For instance, one sexual experience with a person of the same sex does not make one gay or bisexual. Also, a celibate person can identify as gay or straight. That is, one’s identity as gay or straight is not defined solely by who they have sex with. More important, it includes identification and association with others who claim the same sexual orientation. The important point is that one can discuss sexual orientation and give examples of what makes a person straight, gay, or bisexual without mentioning sex.

Straight people do and say things all the time, without even realizing that it identifies them as heterosexual. For instance, they wear wedding bands, display pictures of their spouse and children on their desks, they elect a prom king and queen (as opposed to two kings or two queens), and they freely discuss their boyfriends, girlfriends, and spouses with others. Straight peoples’ identification as “straight,” and their association with other heterosexuals, does not revolve around sex. It’s the same for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people too.

Though labels such as “gay,” “straight,” and “LGBT” are popularly used, they are not reflective of the fluidity of human sexuality. Nowadays, many adolescents with same-sex attractions do not use “gay” as their primary identifier because they place more importance on other aspects of themselves, for instance, their race or ethnicity, religion, or athletic or musical ability (Savin-Williams, 2005). Adolescents with same-sex attractions have the same concerns, worries, hopes, and dreams as heterosexual adolescents. Most of them are happy and well-adjusted, and worry more about zits than to whom they’re attracted. The point is, for most adolescents, their sexual orientations and gender identities are not a big deal, and we should respect their rights by not forcing them to choose a label.

GENDER IDENTITY

Gender identity and sexual orientation are two separate issues, but transgender people and LGB people share many of the same concerns. Gender identity is a person’s identification as male, female, both, neither, or somewhere in between. Transgender (the T in LGBT) includes a broad spectrum of people, from those who privately do not identify as their birth sex but do nothing about it, to those who cross-dress sometimes or always, to those who change their body to match their identity with hormone therapy and sex-reassignment surgery. A person’s gender identity is independent of their sexual orientation. For example, a person who is anatomically female but who identifies as male may be sexually and romantically attracted to either or both males and females.

Intersex

Very recently, intersex people have begun to speak up and align themselves with LGBT people, again because they share some of the same concerns and oppressions. Intersex refers to people who were born with a genetic, hormonal, or physical anatomy that is not regarded as completely male or female. Intersex people were previously and sometimes incorrectly referred to as hermaphrodites. The Web site of the Intersex Society of North America (www.isna.org) explains, “Intersexuality constitutes a range of anatomical conditions in which an individual’s anatomy mixes key masculine anatomy with key feminine anatomy.” Examples of being intersex include: not having the standard complement of chromosomes that genetically make one a male or female (1 in 1,666 births); various syndromes that affect the body’s production of or reaction to hormones, such as androgen insensitivity syndrome (1 in 13,000 births); and reproductive organs and genitals that are not fully formed as male or female (1 or 2 in 1,000 births receive some type of surgery to “normalize” the appearance of the genitals) (ISNA, 2005). We often don’t hear of intersex people because of the stigma that surrounds being intersex. Intersex people often don’t know they are intersex, and if they do, usually prefer to keep that information private.

ARE GSAs SEX CLUBS?

Many religious fundamentalist parents do not want students to have information on sexual orientation and gender identity because it questions traditional gender roles for men and women and their belief that everybody is or should be heterosexual. All people are not heterosexual, however, and schools must deal with this reality. All students, and especially students who are LGBT, need accurate information about sexual orientation and gender identity to help them grow and develop into healthy and well-adjusted adults. To say that GSAs are all about sex misses the point that students have different sexual orientations and gender identities and naturally seek out others like themselves for social activities. Although a Bible club may promote the idea that all people should be heterosexual, it does not promote the idea that students should therefore run out and have heterosexual sex. Likewise, although a GSA may promote the idea that “It’s okay to be gay,” it does not promote that students should engage in gay sex. Being straight or being gay entails much more than sex.

WHY DO STUDENTS START GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCES?

Students start GSAs for a variety of reasons, but usually their purposes are social, educational, political, service to the community, or the need for support. LGBT students, students who are perceived to be LGBT (because of who they’re friends with, how they dress, their mannerisms, and so on), and students with LGBT parents are frequently the targets of bullying and ridicule by other students. Coping with this abuse from one’s peers is different for LGBT students because they most often cannot expect support from their families, as opposed to kids who are teased for being geeks, overweight, or poor. Many LGBT students are afraid to tell their parents they are or might be LGBT for the fear of upsetting their parents, at best, or getting thrown out of their homes, at worst. That leaves school as the most frequent place where LGBT students can turn for support. LGBT students, and their allies, need safe spaces in which to support one another and get guidance from caring and supportive adults (such as teachers and counselors). Without support or safe social outlets, the isolation and bullying that some LGBT students experience in America’s schools may lead to drug and alcohol abuse, low academic achievement, depression, and suicide (Human Rights Watch, 2001). In providing a balanced perspective of the lives of youth with same-sex attraction and nontraditional gender identities, however, it is important to note that the majority of them are happy, well-adjusted, and do not attempt suicide or engage in risk-taking behaviors (Savin-Williams, 2005).

Youth Voices

Closeted LGBT youths feel like they have to hide themselves because their high school will look down upon them and insult them. They have to worry about their safety and try to act as a straight kid. This causes low self-esteem and this can be depressing. I know this because I have been there. After I came out, though, I had more challenges, which were my parents’ reactions. In the beginning, we cried and fought, and getting past that whole acceptance part was hard … My parents wanted me to stay closeted throughout high school, which I also didn’t want to do. I chose to tell my friends. That’s all who know but granted, a lot of people know. When I am at work, I am so afraid that one of my friends will come in and will just say something that could imply I was gay and that would have my fellow workers know that I was gay. I don’t want them to know. It’s not their business. I think another challenge is meeting LGBT youth. I know, right now, what I am really missing is just a friend who has gone through what I have. My straight friends are great and supportive, but they don’t really know. I can’t go to them and tell them who I like and want to date and stuff. They would get a little weirded-out by that. We go through a lot of stuff alone.

—Gay male high school student (Sampson, 2000, p. 60)

HOW DO GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCES HELP ALL STUDENTS?

GSAs provide a safe space for students to develop their social skills, get support and information that is age-appropriate, and meet others with similar interests, which helps end the social and emotional isolation some LGBT teens experience. GSAs can also improve safety for all students by providing educational programs that decrease harassment and bullying. Furthermore, the opportunities for social and political activism that a GSA can provide help students to gain self-confidence and build character. There is a growing body of research that highlights the benefits of GSAs.

Youth Voices

I think the primary reason that LGBT kids seem to engage in more risky behavior is that we often feel alone. I personally have been so lucky that I attend a school with a great GSA. I have supportive teachers and wonderful gay adults I can talk with and friends who have been so amazing … believe me, I know how lucky I am to have all of this … I really don’t know what I would have done if my friends hadn’t supported me or if I was so nervous that I couldn’t even tell my friends the truth or if I didn’t have such great gay role models. I don’t think I would feel so hopeful and excited about my life and be able to see firsthand how successful and happy gays and lesbians can be. We need to let other students who are so scared and angry at themselves for being gay, who might turn to drugs and unsafe sex to deal with their confusion, know that it is all right and that they will be fine and live happy lives. I think having positive role models is vital for any kids, but especially LGBT youth.

—Lesbian high school student (Sampson, 2000, p. 62)

Scientific Research

According to Paula Sampson (2000), a graduate st...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. What Is a Gay-Straight Alliance?
• Chapter 2. For Students: Starting a GSA in Your School
• Chapter 3. For Teachers and Counselors: How to Work with GSAs
• Chapter 4. For Principals and Superintendents: GSAs and the Law
• Chapter 5. For School Boards: Understanding the Opposition and Working with Parents
• Chapter 6. For Parents: Supporting Your Child
• Chapter 7. Conclusion: In Support of Equality and Inclusion
• Appendix A. Resources on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Development
• Appendix B. Resources on LGBT Issues and Schools
• Appendix C. 1984 Federal Equal Access Act
• Bibliography
• Index