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Gay/Straight Alliances: A Student Guide
10 Easy Steps to Starting a GSA

Here's a step-by-step plan for starting a Gay/Straight Alliance in your school. This is not a rigid schedule. Some of these steps can happen at the same time. Be flexible, but be sure you plan carefully and thoroughly.

Step One: Follow Guidelines

Establish a Gay/Straight Alliance in the same way as you would establish any other group or club at your school. In your Student Handbook, there should be a section detailing the procedure for forming a club or group. Follow those guidelines. In some schools, this may mean that you have to get written permission from an administrator. In other schools, this may mean that you simply have to put up flyers announcing the first meeting and find a faculty member to act as your group advisor. Schools sometimes have rules about where and when you can post flyers, make announcements or set up information tables. Learn what the policy is at your school.

Step Two: Enlist the Support of Your Administration

It is important to inform the school administration about your plans to establish a Gay/Straight Alliance. Having an administrator on your side can be very useful. They can help you to arrange Days of Awareness, speakers for school assemblies, teacher trainings and other events. They can work as liaisons to the community and school committee. Explain why you want to form a Gay/Straight Alliance by doing the following:

• Set up a meeting with your principal, superintendent and other students, teachers and community representatives.
• Offer copies of the Federal Equal Access Act and the State Anti-discrimination Law. (The Safe Schools Program can provide you with copies.)
• Offer them a copy of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth Education Report.
• Encourage them to speak with other administrators who work at schools that have formed Gay/Straight Alliances. (See Appendix for names and numbers.)
• Ask if they would like to speak with a representative from the Massachusetts Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students.
• Encourage them to speak with P-FLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) members from your town.

Step Three: Find a Faculty Advisor

Some Gay/Straight Alliances have advisors who are teachers, others have faculty advisors who are guidance counselors, nurses or librarians. Just like student members of a group, the faculty advisors don't have to be gay identified to be part of the group. Many existing groups have straight allies as advisors. How do you pick a faculty advisor? Ask a teacher or staff member whom you think would be receptive.

You can encourage them to be your advisor by doing the following:

• Explain to them what issues the group might address and why you think the group would be an important addition to your school.
• Offer them a copy of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth Education Report, this Resource Guide, phone numbers and names of faculty advisors at other schools (listed in the Appendix), and the phone number for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students, (781) 338-3000.

Step Four: Inform Guidance Counselors and School Social Workers about the Group

Guidance staff may know students that you don't know who would be interested in attending meetings. They may be able to encourage students who are dealing with these issues to attend the group, whether they are questioning their own sexuality, know someone who is gay or lesbian, or are interested in issues affecting gays and lesbians. It can be useful to invite school social workers and guidance counselors to come to meetings to help facilitate discussions about difficult issues like "talking to your parents about homosexuality," "coming out to friends and family" or "supporting a friend or relative who is gay." The meetings may also bring up issues that students will want to discuss in greater detail with a supportive adult.

Step Five: Pick a Meeting Place

If possible, find a classroom or spot in your school that is off the beaten track. At first, students may feel a little nervous or uncomfortable about attending a meeting. They may feel worried that others will harass them or make assumptions about their sexual orientation if they join the group. It is important to acknowledge that being gay or being perceived to be gay or even being a supportive straight ally can put someone at risk for harassment. Try to find a meeting spot that gives members a sense of security and privacy. Some groups meet in rooms that require anyone who's interested in what's happening inside to walk into the room. This makes it impossible for students to hang around outside, spying on the meetings. Some groups have met off-campus because they thought it would be safer. However, you should check your school policies about off-campus meetings.

Nellie Zupanic, from Newtonville, said that her group meets at lunch time. "It's a good time because most people are around and free then." She also added, "It's a good idea to make it as clear as possible that straight people are also welcome at meetings to reduce the assumptions that are made, if for no other reason."

Step Six: Advertise

Advertising the formation of the group is one of the first important steps you can take to fight discrimination in your school. For some students, seeing the words Gay or Lesbian on a poster can be the first time they feel that there are other people like them in their world. Some of these students may be questioning their own sexual orientation, or someone close to them may be gay. These students may never even attend a meeting, but seeing the posters may give them a great deal of comfort knowing there are other people in their school addressing these issues, or that there are other people who feel the same way as they do.

The posters can also spark campus-wide discussions. Traditionally there has been silence around issues of sexual orientation. Fear, ignorance and misinformation can make discussing homosexuality a frightening experience. Putting up posters can be the springboard to beginning conversations. The posters may give people a reason to bring up their own feelings, questions or thoughts about homosexuality. Of course, not all these feelings will be positive or supportive. However, breaking the silence is often the first step a school takes in educating people about these issues and addressing the myths and the questions people have about homosexuality.

Don't be discouraged if the posters are defaced or torn down.

Almost all groups have had this experience. Keep putting them back up. The longer you persist, the less often they will be defaced. Josh Bennett-Johnson, a student in the Concord-Carlisle alliance SPECTRUM, reported he was "in the lunch room and a guy started taking down one of our posters. We said 'Don't do that. Leave it there.' And he did." Pauline Pease, another student from SPECTRUM, said, "At first the posters were shredded and torn down. But now I haven't seen any ripped down and every time I walk by this one poster I put up months ago, I'm amazed it's still there."

Noah Rubin, a student from Concord Academy, said that they put up a poster that said "One in Ten People is Gay" and someone came along and scribbled anonymously, "That means 90% of us are normal." The group made an announcement: "We cannot deal with people that don't have the guts to sign their names." No more homophobic graffiti like that has been encountered since.

What to include in your posters:

• State the meeting time and location.
• Describe what the group does, what meetings are like.
• Highlight that Everyone is Welcome!
• Keep the posters positive.

Donna Georges from Amesbury High School recommends using, "language [on the posters] that is encouraging and supportive."

Brookline High School's Gay/Straight Alliance recommends putting up posters in as many places as possible so if they get torn down, there are still some up. Also, go back and replace the ones that disappear. One Gay/Straight Alliance assumed the monitoring of posters as their group's first activity. You might also want to put some posters in a safe place. Boston Latin used grant money from their Safe Schools mini-grant to buy a glass case that couldn't be broken into. They put posters and announcements about the group in the case.

Step Seven: Get Snacks

Providing food at your meeting is a great idea. Food gives people something to do with their hands. It is a good icebreaker. It gives them something they can share with each other. It can give people an excuse to come to meetings: "I was hungry, so I just thought I'd stop by and get a handful of cheese curls...." Food also makes meetings fun. People can take turns bringing food and this makes meetings more communal.

Step Eight: Hold Your Meeting

Now that you have a faculty advisor, food, a meeting spot and posters advertising your group, you're ready to actually hold the meeting. Some groups begin with a discussion about why they feel having such a group is important. You may want to conduct group-building exercises or see a movie.

(For additional ideas see the Top 10 List of Suggestions for Awesome Meetings.)

Step Nine: Establish Ground Rules

Some ground rules that other groups have established include:

• No one will make any assumptions about members' sexual orientations.
• Confidentiality will be maintained. It may be hard or impossible to ensure that people don't talk about things brought up in the group, but names or identities should never be revealed.
• You must be respectful of each other, but you don't have to be politically correct all the time. Respect each other and realize that everyone is learning about the issue. It's okay to say something that may sound homophobic. Learn why it is problematic.
• Faculty advisors participate on an equal basis with students. Faculty may help encourage discussion or participation, but they are not there to teach or lead the group. They are there as participants.

Step Ten: Plan for the Future

You may want to write out an outline of goals that you would like to work towards for the future. A group in Worcester made an assessment plan and an action plan. The former included various ways to assess the climate of their school and determine what work needed to be accomplished in the future. The latter was a list of goals for their future, which led to community building activities like going to the Gay Pride Parade and to a movie.

(See Out and About: Other Activities for more action plan ideas)

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