Gay-Straight Alliances
Out, Safe & Respected
A gay-straight alliance, or GSA, is a club for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, students questioning their sexual orientation and straight allies. There are lots of different kinds of GSAs. GSAs can be social clubs (some GSAs host dances and movie nights), support groups (some GSAs provide a safe place for LGBTQ students to talk about problems), educational outposts (some GSAs organize guest speakers or create displays for National Coming Out Day) or advocacy groups (some GSAs participate in the National Day of Silence and push for sexual orientation and gender identity to be added to their school’s nondiscrimination policy).
Talk with your friends, reach out to other students and decide what you’d like your GSA to focus on. There are more than 1,600 GSAs in high schools nationwide, and there is lots of information available about forming a GSA. No matter what its focus is, your GSA can play an important role in addressing homophobia and creating a safe space for LGBTQ students. Read on to learn about the basics of forming a GSA, and use these resources if you need more information or support.
Your legal right to form a GSA
In public high schools, GSAs can’t be discriminated against and held to different standards than other student clubs — it’s the law. High schools that receive federal money and allow other noncurricular student clubs (clubs that don’t directly relate to classes at your school) to meet are prohibited from discriminating against any student group based on its viewpoint. Lambda Legal has successfully gone to court on behalf of students against a number of school districts that have broken the law by refusing to allow GSAs. Those successful lawsuits make it more likely that schools will live up to their legal obligations.
Public high schools are covered by the federal Equal Access Act if they allow any noncurricular club (even one) to meet at the school. If your school is covered (most public high schools are), then you have a legal right to form a GSA and a legal right to be treated just like other student clubs at your school. So, if other clubs at your school are allowed to post displays on the bulletin boards, make announcements and use classrooms for meetings, your GSA can too.
Many school districts have policies that emphasize that schools can’t prohibit student groups from forming just because teachers, parents or others disagree with a group’s purpose or topic. This, too, is the law.
