“Okay guys simmer down! Name, pronouns, and…chocolate milk or hot chocolate?”

Every week, the Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) club starts off with introductions — even if it usually is the same group of 20 students. Having everyone reintroduce themselves every week saves them from having to awkwardly correct others when trying out new names or pronouns, and allows newcomers to feel welcome.

This has been an eventful year for the GSA: Finally meeting everyone in person after a year of remote learning, building a stronger community of ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders, and focusing on keeping every meeting fresh and relevant. As the president of the club, it is wonderful to see that our newer members have been extremely active in the club, never hesitating to share their opinion in discussions.

One such ninth grader is Hikmah Ahmed ’25, who said that their favorite aspect of GSA is the community overall. “I just really enjoy talking to other LGBTQ+ people and allies.” Ahmed also recently let me know that if anything needed to be improved, it would be the slideshows: “Some of them could be more relevant, and the news we talk about could be a bit more topical.” Having constant feedback like this is extremely important; the last thing we want is to be disconnected from grades nine through eleven, since this will be their club in only a few short months after the seniors graduate.

Election season is starting once more and thankfully many people, including Hikmah, plan on running for a position on our board. They have many more ideas on how to best make use of our limited club time and highlight important LGBTQ+ news. It can be difficult to find a balance between positive and honest news, given the deterioration of LGBTQ+, and especially transgender, rights across the country over the past few years. Having all of our members take such a strong interest in this really helps the meetings and makes running the club feel like a community effort.

Another active member, Louisiana Stahl ’23, is the unofficial co-president of GSA. Stahl helps to create and deliver our presentations every week while also running our social media, including our official instagram page: @bxsci_gsa. Stahl continues to be one of the club’s biggest supporters after stepping up this year. She is a leader, and is certain to be one of the co-president’s for next year. When asked about her plans for the future of GSA, Stahl said, “I hope to continue to keep GSA relevant with as many activities as possible and to have outreach and collaborations of all types of clubs from across the different interest groups at school.”

One of the ways that the GSA plans to stay up-to-date and relevant is with the currently under-construction pride board located outside of the Guidance Department offices in the basement. The enormous board has become quite outdated as it has not been updated since 2019.

LGBTQ history is extremely complex, rich, and most importantly, ever-changing. This is why we (the GSA) are so happy to finally have creative control back over this board. One of the main aspects of it is how we will update it every other week or so to make sure it never becomes that outdated again. Part of this will include updating the board with current LGBTQ news, both serious, and uplifting. Soon the board should be complete, so be sure to stop by!

LGBTQ history is extremely complex, rich, and most importantly, ever-changing.