GSA Club Changes to Prism

Liberty High School’s Gay Straight Alliance club has changed their name to Prism. The goal of this club is to is to create a safe and empowering environment within our school by educating teachers and students on minority issues and discussing problems within the community.

“We are all multiple colors, but we all come from the same light” is the meaning of Prism according to Natalie Kaiser, junior, who is a part of the leadership of the club. 

This year, the original Gay Straight Alliance club is now known by Prism. In hopes to make more people comfortable with being a part of the club, the current members felt a new name was in order. 

We wanted there to be more level anonymity to it because we had heard in the past from some students that they wanted to be involved in the club, but their parents wouldn’t support it,” explained Ad Stratton, junior. “So we figured that if we had a name you could not necessarily tell your parents it’s the gay straight alliance more students then might be able to come.” 

Prism has been struggling to get more people involved. Currently, they have approximately fifteen members. The club lacks freshmen and allies of the LGBTQ+ community. 

“The club hasn’t grown, [but] we would like to have more people join,” said Jenny Saylor, art teacher, and Prism admin.

Prism has been a safe space for students to express themselves and make new friends. It also has given students many opportunities to take on leadership roles. Students like Kaiser have gotten involved in the club’s council by using skills, such as management.. 

A larger part of the club is to develop allies. Being an ally is supporting and accepting those who are apart of the LGBTQ community. 

“It’s pretty easy to be an ally; you just need to support the idea that people are different than you,” said Stratton. 

While it sounds easy, there is still prejudice on the LGBTQ+ students at Liberty High School. This can be homophobic slander or gender jokes. These types of discrimination is considered bullying and can seriously hurt students. How do we stop this? Educating each other is the first step. This includes doing research, asking everyone their preferred pronouns, and talking to individuals about their own experiences. 

“When it comes down to it, I feel like teachers aren’t really enforcing it, too. At the beginning of the school, I had one to three teachers ask me what my preferred pronouns were,” said Kaiser. 

So get involved in Prism. There is something for everyone. The group rotates between education, learning about things happening in the media, and more. Everyone gets a say in what happens at meetings. It is an interactive and fun club!

“It’s a great group of kids. Come join us and just see what we are about,” said Saylor.

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