In the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) meeting held in Bonnie Ahrens’ art classroom during block lunch on Feb. 13, a group of 10-13 students gathered to sit down and have lunch together. On this particular day they didn’t talk about any serious topics or address any concerns, they simply spoke about what was going on in their day, lives, friendships, and more over a meal together. They bonded over their common interests, and laughter could be heard throughout the entire meeting. They had a lot of conversation, filling the entire 30 or so minutes with endless discussion.
Gay Straight Alliance Is a club advised by Ahrens and English teacher Ned Kelly. Ahrens said the group somewhat began in 2020 during hybrid scheduling. She said two students addressed her and Kelly to explain that they felt as though Mount Vernon High School wasn’t very welcoming towards to LGBTQIA+. Hybrid going on meant only half the student population was at the school each day, and they were all recovering from quarantine from covid. This made the student body separated enough as it is, but then on top of that students of the community still felt excluded. Ahrens and Kelly were open and ready for this club right away, wanting to help it nourish into a complex social group. Ahrens said that the group was hard to gather at first because people don’t always agree, and sometimes that would drive students to lack participation, but eventually, they found their flow.
The group is an alliance of both members of the LGBTQIA+ and members of the straight community. All who want to attend are welcome as long as they bring peace and support to the group. It’s a social club, meaning their meetings consist mostly of having conversations about current events, establishing peace amongst the school, or simply talking about what’s going on with their lives both personal and academic.
“Everyone should feel welcome at school,” Kelly said, “and the GSA provides a place for our LGBTQIA+ students and their friends and allies to feel safe and secure through community, social action, and advocacy.”
The goal is simply for kids who are a part of the community to “have a metaphorical and literal safe space to be themselves,” Ahrens said.
The students organize and structure all of the meetings. They decide what is open for discussion, when the meetings will be held. The group at the moment isn’t super into activism due to the fact that they just enjoy the calm. Activism can be tricky with complex issues such as sexuality, and the group doesn’t really want to do that right now. They do however discuss social normative around the community and potential issues or concerns they may have. They also plan to hopefully go to the governor’s conference in Des Moines in the next couple of weeks.
Ahrens says the group doesn’t really have an agenda when it comes to the group objective. She says that the intention is not to influence a conversation, but more to facilitate it and allow the students safety in discussion. The only agenda in this group is safety and happiness amongst its members. In other words, they both want the kids to “just be themselves” she said. Ahrens has given herself the caretaker title, stating she “aspires to give aunty energy” when it comes to these kids and the group she and Kelly have made together.
