The Gay-Straight Alliance: Honoring the Past and Looking Toward the Future
Photo taken at a GSA meeting of Sydney Burns (left) and Ellie Bestor (right). Photo by Maya Bell.
Maya Bell
Are you looking for a place to feel accepted regardless of sexual orientation or just want to hang out with your friends? The Gay-Straight Alliance club (GSA) might be for you.
The Gay-Straight Alliance‒formerly the Rainbow Alliance for Youth (RAY)‒is a student-led organization. The club’s goal is to promote understanding regardless of sexual orientation/gender identity. The GSA has fun activities like Kahoot quizzes and a segment called the “World of Gay”, which brings news to people on LGBTQ issues ranging from a lesbian couple getting married or a Pride parade in California. The Charger Press spoke to Ellie Bestor and Sydney Burns to learn about their experiences as GSA leaders.
Why did you join GSA?
Ellie Bestor: I joined the club to find new friends that were also a part of the lgbtq community and also I had other friends that were joining.
Sydney Burns: I personally joined the club because I found it more comforting and enjoyable to be around people who are exactly like you, going through the same thing. Plus it was a fun club that accepted people so I joined.
Why was there a name change?
Ellie Bestor: The reason why was because nobody knew what RAY meant. Everybody was like “Ray club lol what’s that” and we would have to say that RAY club is for LGBTQ individuals and people still wouldn’t know what that meant. Basically being a GSA officially signs us up for more opportunities, so through the GSA name sake we can do different activities and connect with other GSA’s at other places.
What challenges have you faced as being new leaders of the club?
Ellie Bestor: There’s a lot of bullying and negativity and mistinformation of the LGBTQ communinty a lot of the time on the LGBT community. Recently someone said to me “I want to support the LGBT community, but there’s pedophles in it.”
Sydney Burns: I have faced harassment from other students thinking that the club is a joke. I’ve had to not be able to react to the harassment.
Why did you or Ellie decide to add the “World of Gay” segment?
Sydney Burns: In our school we do not talk about current up to date news especially when it comes to minority news when it is more serious. So, we wanted it to be more helpful and educational when it comes to those types of topics.
So you want to have more discussions on real world LGBTQ issues, but since some of those issues are inherently political and the school rules around politics are “strict”. How do you balance the discussion from turning into an argument or possibly getting the school involved?
Ellie Bestor: Most of the time what we say are inherently statements. The statements aren't that this group of people did this thing. If it's a Republican senator we’ll say it’s a Republican senator, or it's a Democrat it’s a Democrat. I’m usually like “this happened” I don’t think that being a part of the LGBTQ community is anything inherently political.
Sydney Burns: So for us we have to be more limited on what we say. Since the school is a more respectful area, when we say stuff it has to be not just a one sided comment or something that could make someone upset. When we talk about things more serious we have to check it out first and make sure it's ok to talk about. Then we make sure that people know it’s not a fight and this is just a conversation.
Does it bother you that other people, specifically older people, see the community as inherently political?
Ellie Bestor: Well honestly it's just an issue of human rights. I think every group of people deserves to have equal rights under the law. People are being killed for being a part of the LGBTQ community and that’s not okay. I don’t think that’s a “liberal opinion” or a “conservative opinion”. Obviously, it's inherently more liberal due to the religiousness of things sometimes, but it doesn’t seem like it should be mixed in with religion or politics.
Sydney Burns: Yes, it bothers me because there are a lot of things that students often get away with when it comes to telling the truth about a situation that is more political. The school doesn’t want to start problems. It bothers me because some students like to cause problems with political stuff, so they often let them get away with it.
What is the significance of the club?
Sydney Burns: It's more that we’re a family and that we’re together that makes me really happy to have this club. It gives me a little happy thought that we’re not just alone, we’re not just people in a crowd and we have a place to go and a place to be happy.
Ellie Bestor: I just feel a strong inclination to protect people I care about. It's really important to me that everybody feels like they can have a safe space and especially for me having a sense of community is really important to me.
How do you feel about the increase in members in the GSA?
Sydney Burns: I feel really happy, there are more freshmen this year which means this club will live on. Since this club started in 2015 not a lot of people knew about the club. Since we have a lot of freshmen the legacy of this club will still live on.
Ellie Bestor: I feel really great about that. It makes me happy that people are able to be out, or if they're straight not concerned about their sexuality. Everyone has been so good with participating and it's been really cool.
What has something that being a leader of the club has taught you?
Ellie Bestor: So I used to be really anxious all the time, getting this leadership position showed me how much I grew as a person. I don’t feel that anxiety because I care so greatly about it. This is something that I care about and I’m going to do my best. I really like being a leader, which is something I knew before because I was super introverted and I didn’t know how to talk to people. This has given me more social skills and interpersonal skills. It’s taught me how to deal with things like political imbalances and everything like that.
Sydney Burns: It taught me to choose my words more carefully. It has taught me that you can’t please everyone with this club. Like, for example, when people mock this club, you just have to brush it off your shoulder and call it a day because there’s nothing you can do to change their views.
What do you hope to see in the club in the future?
Sydney Buns: Well if I ever come back I want to see more opportunities [for the club]. We always talked about an Instagram page. Also, I would like to see more interaction with the school and GSA not just everyone in GSA interacting and I would like to see more faces obviously.
Ellie Bestor: Honestly, I just really hope that there will be more people who will continue to lead the club. There doesn’t have to be any great change in the school. I just want this club to continue on and be a safe space. As long as it's here I feel that there is a sense of hope for LGBTQ people.
With these interviews, students may better understand the GSA and what makes it special to its members. The GSA meets on Mondays after school and during Wednesday advisements.
