A gay–straight alliance, gender-sexuality alliance (GSA) or queer–straight alliance (QSA) is a student-led or community-based organization, found in middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. These are primarily in the United States and Canada. Gay–straight alliance is intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and all (LGBTQ+) sometimes being referred to as "alphabet soup", children, teenagers, and youth as well as their cisgender heterosexual allies. In middle schools and high schools, GSAs are overseen by a responsible teacher. The first GSAs were established in the 1980s. Scientific studies show that GSAs have positive academic, health, and social impacts on schoolchildren of a minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Numerous judicial decisions in United States federal and state court jurisdictions have upheld the establishment of GSAs in schools, and the right to use that name for them.
Terminology
ally – In the context of the founding in 1988, an ally is a cisgender, heterosexual person who supports equal rights for gay people and challenges homophobia. The meaning later expanded to include rights for all LGBTQ+ individuals, orientations, and gender identities. Gay–Straight Alliance – name proposed by Meredith Sterling for the original club in 1988. Sometimes with slash instead of dash. Gay Straight Alliance – in title case, and without hyphen on the founder website. gay–straight alliances – in lowercase, a generalized term for any club of this nature Gay–Straight Alliance Network (GSA Network) – an organization founded in California in 1998 to support and promote GSAs. gender–sexuality alliance – updated name for gay–straight alliance, the old name appearing "too binary" for a later generation Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network – new name (2016) for the Gay–Straight Alliance Network Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) – organization founded in 1990 in Boston GSA – originally, designated a gay–straight alliance club, later, a gender–sexuality alliance club QSA – is used for more inclusive use, as the community is more than 'Gay', the use of Queer being used allows other students that may fit the queer definition, like transgender or bisexual students, to be represented in these support groups. Sexuality And Gender Acceptance/Awareness/Alliance/Association (SAGA) – unspecific general term, used as an alternative to both LGBT and GSA.
History
Founding
Concord Academy
The first gay–straight alliance was formed in November 1988 at Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts, when Kevin Jennings, a history teacher at the school who had just come out as gay, was approached by Meredith Sterling, a student at the school who was straight, but was upset by the treatment of gay students and others. Jennings recruited some other teachers at the school, thus forming the first gay–straight alliance. One of the first to join was Sterling's classmate S. Bear Bergman. Jennings credits students for both the establishment of the club, as well as for setting the agenda of struggling against homophobia, and for changes to CA's nondiscrimination policy. Jennings would go on to co-found the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in Boston in 1990.
According to a thirty-year retrospective about the history of the group, Concord Academy reported in 2018 that students at the academy had renamed the group "a few years ago" to "". Faculty mentor Nancy Boutilier said, "That gay–straight language was really important at the time. Times change, though. To students today, that sounds so binary."
Phillips Academy
A few months after Concord started the first Gay Straight Alliance club, another Massachusetts preparatory school north of Boston, Phillips Academy, started one of their own. It began with a meeting called by Phillips student Sharon Tentarelli for February 7, 1989, with little advance notice. A dozen people attended, including a mix of student, teachers, and staff. This was the second such group, after Concord Academy. The group was well-received, and some staff and faculty became supporters, both gay, and straight. Athletic director Kathy Henderson was one of the supporters, and she later went on to co-found the GLSEN two years later, along with Kevin Jennings of Concord Academy.