From Oct. 11 to Oct. 15 Gay Straight Alliance held a spirit week for LGBTQ awareness to help inform and to spread a message about love. Love being the theme of the first day, where students were invited to wear red or pink.

“We wanted to start out the week by sharing that we just wanted to spread love, not hate.” Public Relations officer Madison Broughton said, “The other four days were Games Day, Books Day, Time Travel Thursday, and Queen’s Day. Those days were really just days where we could have fun and be ourselves.”

The GSA spirit week’s purpose to inform others on these corresponding days also featured posts from their official Instagram and along with it a daily trivia question on their Twitter page. These posts featured infographics including “How to be a Good Ally,” which had tips on remaining open minded and supporting LGBTQ students and friends, with another infographic giving advice on how you should handle accidentally misgendering someone. Combining being informative, with allowing opportunities for students to express themselves was a main purpose of this event.

“The main message was one of education, unity, tolerance, and fun.” co-president Molly Schaedler said, “We wanted to let people know of the GSA’s fun, friendly, and informational presence at the school.”

Participation and making this week possible was of help, in part, due to involvement in GSA greatly increasing since last year, and the addition of officer roles.

“Last year I believe the record of students at a meeting was eight, and we didn’t have officers.” Broughton said, “This year we have had a meeting with nearly 30 students and we have a crew of amazing officers.”

Although staff participation was noticed as well, and greatly appreciated by some. There had been small incidents of toxic comments on the GSA social media, as well as removal of posters. Most of which has been handled already by the administration.

“The student reactions have been mixed. We have our fair share of homophobes. Some tearing down GSA posters in the hall, we’ve had a few leaving comments on our social medias.” Broughton said.

Response to comments on social media and concerns from parents have been handled by staff and administration with GSA sponsor Kerri Flynn noticing Principal Dr. Kelle McCallum in particular. 

“Many staff members participated in the spirit week and supported students who did.” Flynn said, “Dr. McCallum in particular has been very supportive of GSA and our spirit week byt dealing with phone calls from concerned parents.

Despite a few setbacks, the spirit week allowed GSA students to express themselves, and for other student allies to show their support as well. Overall, participation has been greatly appreciated by GSA officers.

“We’ve had a lot of new and welcomed involvement in the club this year.” Schaedler said, “It is really exciting to see people who are proud of their identity and willing to be involved in the community. It has been my greatest joy to get to know them.”