By Devin Deline and Aries Riedlinger
In life, we love to feel accepted, and one unnoticed, but influential club at ITA is showing people what it means, and that club is GSA. The Gender and Sexuality Alliance, or GSA for short, is a club hosted after school on Tuesday in Ms. Biddle’s classroom, 1310.
GSA will last for an hour, three to four PM, and it is mostly described as a social club. Clover, a junior and frequent member of GSA, says, “I mean it is a lot of socializing, but last year we did a women history’s month project.”
Clover says the environment of GSA is one of the most welcoming around. “Most of us are queer and I just feel more accepted, and I fear judgment less because we sorta have the same experiences.”
GSA is a place to be yourself, Clover says, and that even if you aren’t queer, you can still join and feel welcomed. They say GSA didn’t get as much attention last year due to only getting one segment on ITTV, and having really outdated posters on the bulletin boards.
They say GSA is looking for more advertisements this year that would hopefully let people know about that club that don’t already know about it.
GSA has received two new advising teachers this year in Ms. Biddle and Ms. Cannon. Ms. Biddle says this year’s GSA has exciting plans, and that the student presidents have everything planned out for the rest of the year.
“I’m going to let the students definitely take their lead and do what they want, but at the same time Ms.Cannon and I will facilitate community projects, or school-based projects where they need us.”
Ms. Biddle also mentioned that some of the students’ plans were to collaborate with other clubs such as the Women’s Empowerment Club, IT Rocks, and possibly other GSAs from different schools.
At the start of the 2022-2023 school year, a few officials were elected by the members of GSA to be president and vice president of the club. Upon speaking with the vice president of the club, Salem, a senior, spoke about their thoughts on who should join GSA.
“I know a bunch of people think ‘oh, I’m straight, I can’t join’, but that’s just not true. Whoever wants to join can join, even if you’re gay, straight, or whatever.”
GSA holds the key of being one of the most inclusive clubs. It is a problem that they received barely any advertisement last year, with segments being cut and their most prominent pieces being displayed in a pessimistic light. Hopefully, this year will be the one to change that with the club branching out and working with other clubs.
GSA is a club that should at least get a glance for giving you the opportunity to hang out with new friends and maybe even some old ones. Overall GSA is a great place for someone to feel accepted.