Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) groups are growing and making an impact at high schools across the Sunshine Coast.
Elphinstone Secondary has about 10 members, while Chatelech Secondary has around 15 and Pender Harbour Secondary has a handful of students signed up. A new GSA is expected to start in the spring at Sechelt Alternative School as well.
The GSA groups are meant to bring students of all sexual orientations together, in a safe and supportive atmosphere, to create friendships. Those students are also encouraged to look at issues related to gender equality/sexuality in their schools and find ways to make a positive impact.
Representatives from the Chatelech and Elphin-stone Secondary School groups were at the Feb. 8 school district meeting to let trustees know what they’ve been up to.
In Gibsons, Elphin-stone’s GSA has been successful in getting a gender-neutral washroom set up for students, and they’re getting their message of acceptance out to the school population, although there is still a stigma.
“There has been some prejudice about kids thinking, ‘If I go to GSA that’s me coming out,’ but it’s not. GSA is Gay-Straight Alliance. So you can have members of both gay and straight. It doesn’t matter what you are,” said a representative from the Elphinstone GSA.
Expanding the reach of the GSA has been important at Chatelech, where students voted to change the name this year.
“The reason why we changed it is because GSA stands for Gay-Straight Alliance and we felt that didn’t quite include everyone from the gender spectrum so we changed it to Sexuality And Gender Acceptance (SAGA), so it kind of includes everyone,” a Chat representative said.
Chatelech also has a gender-neutral washroom and students are eyeing sports teams as a place to possibly make an impact in the future.
“Sports teams have been a big problem for gender because it’s always guys and girls,” one Chatelech representative said.
Members of all the GSAs on the Coast are invited to a monthly meet-up at the Sechelt Mental Health Clinic to share their thoughts and support one another. The monthly meeting has been beneficial to keep the lines of communication between the schools open and to bolster GSA efforts.
Trustees were pleased with what has been accomplished to date.
School board chair Betty Baxter said it was a great example of policy being passed down by the board and students and teachers embracing it.
“We passed a policy in 2012,” Baxter said. “We wanted our schools to be safe and we wanted them to be inclusive around sexual orientation/gender identity, and part of that policy said we need to educate our students, our teachers, our staff, and our community around the issues to support students and to welcome everybody. So we’re thrilled!”
