Running head: GSA CLUB

I reworded a couple of my sentences, deleted some, and over tried to make

everything transition in a more clearly so that it was easier to follow. I worked to
not jump around as much, and tried to get rid of any unnecessary details that may
have distracted from my overall topic. I also made couple of grammatical changes
here and there. The main goal really was to make the paper more clean cut and
clear.

Gay Straight Alliance Club Cultural Essay

Camille Stallings
University of Kentucky

Authors Note
Joe Martins CIS 110 MWF 10:00am-10:50am, Cultural Essay on UKGSA Club

GSA CLUB

Abstract:
This paper will touch on the stereotypes of LGBTQ community in general, but more
specifically the Gay Straight Alliance club as a whole and on University of Kentuckys
campus. The clubs personal stereotypes, misconceptions, purpose, goals, and importance
overall will be explained. Lastly, the paper will aim to help one understand the wide
range of sexuality and help one remember that there is diversity in each and every sexual
category. Information was gathered from both online sources and two interviews with
members of the UKGSA club about their take on the stereotypes and life of a member of
LGBTQ.

GSA CLUB

The Gay Straight Alliance club, more commonly known as the GSA club, consists
of members who are either part of the LGBTQ community, or are supportive of it.
Members of the GSA club typically join the club because they are in search of a safe and
supportive environment where they can discuss their personal struggles with gender and
sexuality, the issues with gender and sexuality all over the world, and lastly to work for a
world free of discrimination, misconception, and harassment of those in the LGBTQ
community (Gay-Straight Alliance Network, 2009).
Before diving into the GSA club specifics, I want to touch on the LGBTQ
community on a broader spectrum. LGBTQ in general is a very frequently stereotyped
community. From my research and personal opinion, I gathered together a top 5 list of
the most common stereotypes about the LGBTQ community. The list includes: whether
youre gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, etc., its all about sex; they are always trying to
recruit new members to join them; they lack religion; for some its just a fun trend;
and finally, they lack diversity (in tastes, styles, views, etc.) (Knightstep, 2014). The final
stereotype is what this paper is going to focus most on. People have a tendency to group
the whole community or each category within, together as one solid group of people that
are all the same. On the contrary, I have already come to find the LGBTQ community is
just as diverse as the heterosexuals of this world, and through this paper I intend to both
show their diversity and explain why it is important to understand that there is diversity.
The reason I chose this club in particular is because, though I am most definitely a
supporter of the LGBTQ community, I feel as if I lack a lot of personal knowledge and
experience in this culture. Obviously not being a part of the community makes personal
understanding difficult, but also at home I only had a very small handful of friends or

GSA CLUB

acquaintances whom identified as being a part of LGBTQ. That being said, I know that
even I have improperly stereotyped people in this community before. I hope by getting a
better understanding through research and firsthand interviews I will prevent both others
and myself from stereotyping this way in the future.
Seeing that there are so many misconceptions of the community and every
member is different, I had no idea what to expect going into this experience. Thus I was
extremely nervous for my interviews. I wasnt entirely sure of how to approach the club
or what exactly GSA meant. Looking back now I realize how uninformed I truly was. As
embarrassing as it is I fully expected them to understand my goal was to interview
someone who was either lesbian or gay, not bisexual, not transgender, and most definitely
not straight. More importantly, I one hundred percent planned on them understanding the
goal was to understand life as a member of LGBTQ, not specifically a member of GSA.
Initially, GSA was just what I had assumed to be the best way to find gay people. I really
hate to admit this, but Im pretty sure I didnt even realize the word straight was in the
name until just hours before my interview.
Because I had most definitely planned on interviewing a gay or lesbian person, all
of my questions for the interview were directed toward a homosexual person who was at
least relatively comfortable talking about his or her sexuality. It wasnt until thirty
minutes before the interview that I had received an email from one of the club officers
saying, ..a few reminders. Do not try to interview any of the students, just officers. Do
not ask anyone about their sexuality. Also do not have a notebook out writing things
down during a meeting. And lastly, please arrive on time, (A. Baxter, personal
communication, October 8, 2014). I was astonished that I was not supposed to ask them

GSA CLUB

about their sexuality. At this point I was definitely panicking and hoping to just get an
extremely understanding and somewhat open person who would still be willing to at least
answer most of my preset questions.
I arrived at Outsource, a confidential and safe space on campus for members of
LGBTQ, for my interview and was greeted by two members of the club: a boy and a girl
(OUTSource GLBTQQA University of Kentucky, n.d.). The girl was a junior and the
president of GSA, while the boy just happened to be the GSA officer who had sent me
the previously mentioned email earlier that day. This was extremely nerve wracking for
more than anything I did not want to seem ignorant, but also I had no idea what to say or
how to talk to them about my confusion. I had already made my own misconception
about the club and the interview hadnt even started! When I did wrack up the courage to
explain to them what I had originally expected from this interview, it was a very
uncomfortable situation. The interview proceeded, but I had to gear my questions toward
a far less direct route of conversation than I had originally planned.
As one can tell from my unpreparedness in my interviews, I clearly had no idea
what exactly the GSA club was prior to this experience. I had always known that big
colleges typically had clubs for the LBGTQ community, but I never really thought about
their purpose and especially never thought that these clubs could be for straight people as
well. Alex, who was the boy in the interview, reiterates what I previously explained as
being the purpose of GSA: to basically to create a safe meeting ground for people to
share their views and experiences, find confidence in their sexuality, help prevent the
misconceptions and stereotypes, and most importantly meet people alike or even different
from themselves (A. B. Baxter, personal communication, October 8, 2014).

GSA CLUB

The last concept: meeting people alike or even different from themselves, in
particular really stood out to me in the interview. Which is most likely because it combats
what I learned to be the biggest misconception about the GSA club. That is: it is only for
the typical gay or lesbian person, not for all the other sexual preference possibilities,
especially not straight. When I asked the exact question in my interview, what do you
believe the biggest misconception is in regards to the GSA club, each person agreed that
the Gay Straight Alliance Club was most often perceived as only being for basic gay
people. Even the president herself admitted to having this very same misconception in
stating, even when I was in high school, I thought the club was specifically for gay
people... I was like okay, if you're straight, youre not straight, youre probably just
waiting, (I. S. Saenz, personal communication, October 8, 2014). Alexs response
surprised me even more when he responded saying, you know...my flame does not burn
as bright as others, so some people thought I was straight and they elected me as copresident, so I mean its not, its not just for, like she said, gay and lesbian people, (A. B.
Baxter, personal communication, October 8, 2014). That to me, was the most
convincing that they really are welcoming all people. The club is not just for gay,
straight, and lesbian people; it for anyone whose sexuality is important to them. Thus

GSA CLUB

proving their main goal really is to create equality and safety for everyone.

Although I had never doubted that the club has the best intentions of being open
to all, I was still skeptical of the realistic-ness of this prior to my interviews. This is
because even though there are straight people who have their stereotypes for gay people,
there are also gay people who have their stereotypes for straight people. Even just going
into the interview I was afraid of the preconceived judgments they had of me. This just
goes to show many people are insecure about sexual orientation stereotypes (gay and
straight people alike) and that is exactly what I believe the GSA club is working to
change. In order to bring forth understanding of the LGBTQ community, the club must
also have unity with those outside of the community. That is why it is called an alliance
. The straight allies are working to achieve the same goals as the LGBTQ members.
This portrays the reality that homosexual/bisexual/transgender/questioning people can
have the exact same values and ideals as heterosexual people, and we all should be seen
as equal regardless of sexual preference (Gay-Straight Alliance Network, 2009). That
being said, it is possible that this may be why GSA prefers that one does not just up front
ask someone their sexuality, because you will then be making an immediate judgment
and assumption about that person, and vice versa. This contradicts one of their goals,
which is to help people understand people are so much more than their sexuality.

GSA CLUB

In order to better understand the members of GSA it is most important to

understand their values and goals, and how they plan live out these values and to achieve
these goals. As I have stated numerous times, the club works to create a unified space of
understanding and openness to all no matter what their orientation, and works to create
understanding and openness to all outside the club as well. GSA plans to achieve these
goals by instilling confidence in its members through the environment where they can
meet people who share their views and struggles. This confidence thus empowers them to
educate others about LGBTQ and most importantly advocate for positive change toward
equality in their schools and any other communities they are a part of (Common
Misconceptions Concerning Gender, Sex, and Sexual Orientation, 2007). Lastly I believe
it is most important to understand GSA is not only, working to encourage understanding
and equality with sexuality and gender orientation, but also race, ethnicity, religion, and
class (Gay-Straight Alliance Network, 2009).
As I have said, the key goals of GSA is to bring forth strength, confidence, and
understanding through unity. In my interview, Iz helped me truly understand what a
positive impact being a part of the GSA club can have. She explained how the sense of
community really helps those within when stating, you still had those weird kids in the
corner but i feel like they were finally able to come out of their shell in some way, it was
like nice and beneficial and I felt safe in that environment,. (I. S. Saenz, personal
communication, October 8, 2014). This reiterated that the feeling of community helped
these members finally feel more confident and less alone.
I really believe it important to stop making assumptions about those with a sexual
orientation different from your own. Just because someone choosing to go through life

GSA CLUB

with different preferences than you in one aspect, that doesnt make them different from
you in every aspect. I feel one of the biggest reason people are so opposed to people
having different sexual preferences is because it just isnt what they are used to, and they
are uneducated on it. In my interview, Alex backs my view up in saying, I just think
people really arent educated, they dont know Im pretty sure these people who think
this way have never met or even tried to get to know people who are different from
themselves, and I think if they did, they would understand that theyre not that different,
you know? they just like a guy instead of a girl, or a girl instead of a guy, or girls and
guys, (A. B. Baxter, personal communication, October 8, 2014). That is why the GSA
club is so important: just by creating alliances with more and more straight people and
getting the word out there, the world slowly starts to understand how similar the people
of LGBTQ community can be to themselves. Just because your sexual preferences are
different, doesnt mean your entire life is different. Its most important to remember that
though a persons sexuality can be extremely important to that person, it does not entirely
define who that person is as a whole.
It truly is amazing how there is such a diverse variety of sexual orientations. So
many that Facebook alone provides around 51 different options to explain ones gender
and sexual preferences, and other websites cited up to 55 different options! Also upon
searching for a list of the sexual orientations I found the full up to date acronym for
LGBTQ, and that is: LGBPTTQQIIAA+. Listed out as: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Pansexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Intergender,
Asexual, Ally. The letter that stood out most of course is ally. I had absolutely no idea
that even the straight allies were included in the full LGBPTTQQIIAA+ community

GSA CLUB

10

name. That being said in a way the supporters, no matter what their preference, are all
considered a part of the community. This once again shows GSAs openness to all and
their high value in overall acceptance (Killermann, 2014).
After conducting my interviews and doing my research I can now say I truly do
understand that there is diversity not only in the GSA club but also LGBTQ and every
category within. Everyone is different and entitled to their own sexuality, thus we have
no right as people to judge them on the way they choose to live out their lives. Just as
people should be free to practice their own religion, political views, and cultural
traditions, they should be free to live out their own sexuality. It is their life and no one
has the right to make that decision for them, no matter how morally correct or incorrect
we find it, it is not our business. As a whole people should really attempt to be openminded with gender and sexual orientation because a person should never be judged
solely on his or her sexuality.

11

GSA CLUB
References
Mission | Gay-Straight Alliance Network. (2009, January 1). Retrieved from
http://www.gsanetwork.org/
Common Misconceptions Concerning Gender, Sex, and Sexual Orientation. (2007,
January 1).
Retrieved from http://www.clubs.psu.edu/
OUTsource GLBTQQA University of Kentucky. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://beitingalan.wix.com/

Killermann, S. (2014, January 1). Comprehensive List of LGBTQ Term Definitions | It's
Pronounced Metrosexual. Retrieved from http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/
Knightstep, J. (2014, January 1). 7 Common Gay Stereotypes You Should Avoid.
Retrieved from
http://www.allwomenstalk.com/

GSA CLUB

12