After a year worth of activism and activities, Aragon’s Gay Straight Alliance was recently named as one of the top four high school Gay Straight Alliance clubs in the nation by the GLSEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network), a prominent national LBGT organization.
A large part of Aragon GSA’s recognition is thanks to the hard work done by the leadership of the club. Junior Tyler Bray says, “Sam Alavi [Aragon GSA’s president] and Mr. Bravo both do a really good job at running it all. The meetings usually consist of Sam talking about news relating to ‘the gay world,’ her teaching us about LGBTQ history, or all of us discussing how we can make Aragon a more LGBTQ-friendly environment.”
Alavi notes that a lot of her proactive spirit stems from her passion of activism. “I had participated in my GSA throughout middle school and enjoyed it, but didn’t think I would have time to join in high school. However, half way through freshman year, I realized that my love for activism was something that I couldn’t just get rid of,” she says. Aragon’s GSA is notably active, hosting several activities a year.
One of the club’s annual activities is a club trip to the Castro district in San Francisco.
President of Aragon’s GSA, Sam Alavi says “we have a tour of the Castro where we learned about all the historical landmarks, visited the LGBT History Museum, and had a workshop done by ACLU about the rights LGBT students have in school.”
On top of club discussions, Aragon’s GSA is active in the Aragon community as well as the local community. Early in the school year, the GSA hosted ally week where students pledged to not use any anti-LGBT slurs.
Moreover, Aragon GSA members are active in the local community as well. Bray recalls that one time, “Sam and I, along with several other high school students from around the bay, went to a middle school in Pacifica and spoke about what it’s like to be gay and or a straight LGBTQ ally in high school. We told the middle school students about how they should be accepting and not use offensive slurs, even when they’re joking, because they don’t really know how their words will affect someone else.”
One of the Aragon GSA’s greatest community contributions is the BAYS summit, an activity in which prominent speakers visit Aragon and talk about various LGBT issues. The first BAYS summit was hosted last year (visit aragonoutlook.org to read more about the 2011 BAYS summit).
The next BAYS summit is slated to take place in 2013. Alavi says, “BAYS 2013 will be even bigger and better than BAYS 2011. BAYS is currently in the process of filing as its own non-profit 501c3, which will make it the first and only LGBT youth run organization ever. We are currently working very hard to find more amazing speakers, workshops, and activities for BAYS next year.”
On top of the BAYS summit, the GSA annually hosts Harvey Milk week, dedicated to a former gay San Francisco Board of Supervisors member. During this past Harvey Milk week, which takes place at time of publication, the GSA submitted announcements about LGBT issues and had other activities to raise LGBT awareness.
The GSA, however, is not only about advocating for LGBT rights. The members of the GSA fight for a larger goal of equality. Junior Lindsey Chen says “It’s not just about gay rights it’s about being socially accepting to everybody with different mindsets.” Bray agrees that acceptance is a large part of the club mantra. “One reason [I joined GSA] is because I’m gay, but I mainly joined because I want to let those people who are in the closet know that there will always be people who will accept them. When I was in the closet, it was really comforting to see so many people going to GSA because I knew that they would all accept me no matter who I am,” he says.
With President Obama’s recent announcement of his support of gay marriage, the LGBT activist community has been mobilized. Chen says “There’s a lot of controversy over this because some say Obama is just doing it for votes, but even if that’s true, any support for gay rights is a positive influence on the community.” Thus, as the GSA looks on BAYS 2013 and other future activities, the gay rights movement has a renewed spot in the political agenda.
Additional reporting by Olivia Marcus.
Correction – Feb. 7, 2013: A previous version of this article stated Harvey Milk was a mayor of San Francisco. He was a member of the city Board of Supervisors.
Fact checking? While reading the article, my daughter and I noticed something that needs to be changed, please! “. . . a former gay San Francisco mayor” Noooo.
Before reading this excellent piece about GSA at Aragon, we both knew Milk as the slain first ever openly gay elected [supervisor] to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Thank you!
Thank you, the article has been revised.