(disclaimer: I know this post is a bit messy just as most of my posts) Hey guys and girls I've kept myself from posting (I've been visiting every day though) for a good while but I just wanna chime in briefly to ask something. So I've had another therapy meeting today and I talk to my therapist about my gender id pretty much every time and she's completely supportive. Today we talked about how I'm in only 1 club as of now and she brought up GSAs. I thought about this last year but just couldn't get the spine to go into the club room. Back then I was still in questioning, screwed in terms of school grades, and was constantly angry and sad. My initial reaction to her mention was no that I've got no idea what to do there and don't wanna accidentally out myself. Also, and this is embarrassing, there's a transguy who's literally the biggest extrovert who I know and I have a slight crush (but it's more of a "I wanna be friends really, really badly with him" crush) on him. Back to the topic though, I was thinking about if perhaps I could go there and perhaps talk face-to-face with trans people my age who may or may not have gotten some of the same parent reactions of denial and doubt. So basically, I'm asking what exactly is done at GSAs and can I just go there to talk with some people similar to me instead of doing anything else for the club ('cause I still wanna stay pretty private about my gender)?
Well, at my school's GSA, it was pretty chill. We mostly would just go in during lunch and talk about current events / LGBT social politics, also we compiled an email list of everyone who wanted to be on it in the club of members whom you could email for support if you needed it. We would do crafts and raise money for local LGBT fundraisers and safe houses and stuff. Tbh, I went to a really, really small school though and the club only had like 10 members though and it was started by a lesbian girl who had almost no clue what trans people were sadly so... it was a little messy at first but I think if your club is tight-knit and a good size, people will be accepting and accomidating after I graduated, I know a few younger openly trans and nonbinary students took it over though so I imagine its picked up since then! You really should go and check it out! I can't see why people wouldn't be accepting considering its a safe space created for that reason.
Can't speak for all GSA's, but at mine we either have a discussion, just chat, or do fun stuff, like tye-dyeing t-shirts. I would recommend attending at least once, as it is a gay straight alliance, so you can play it off as straight ally if you want to.
Yeah but I feel like somebody will notice me go there or somebody from within the club will tell others and then everybody (and I mean this hyperbolically) will think me a creep.
Hmm... I mean, its not unreasonable but idk what really to say on the issue except that if you're apart of this group in the school and it was created for the sole purpose of being safe, then any harrassment that occurs would make the school liable based on discrimination. Personally I know that even though I had my name on the public email list, no one ever really spoke of the club if they weren't in it, though I guess I went to a pretty accepting school as well. I think you should try it out!! I feel like its much less likely for members of the club to be mean than those who just want to tease and bully outside of it. Otherwise no one would trust each other and a lot of the people who are open there wouldn't be there either!
I actually just had GSA today coincidentally Now every GSA is different so my GSA may be different than yours, but I'll still explain. The purpose of GSA is to create a safe environment where can be themselves regardless of sexuality or gender. Every year it is the job of the club president to have basic goals for the club and how can we improve from last year. Most of the time we plan fundraisers, give some presentations to teach about certain parts of the LGBT+ community, and have surveys in the school to see what needs to be fixed. Between all the official stuff we just chat with each other about our lives and we didn't mind anyone who just wanted to come to chat as long as they weren't disruptive when we did serious stuff. Also not sure about other clubs, but in our first meeting we gave our names, grades, and pronouns, but were allowed not to answer if it was too personal so they should at least respect your wishes for privacy. Every GSA is a safe place so you should totally go and I'm sure you'll make some friends too. :icon_bigg
Thanks. Any recommendations on how to approach a club member or the host teacher ('cause I told her twice last year that I lacked the courage to appear both times)?
