QSA at 25: Part Six
This article is the sixth in a series of articles examining the founding and legacy of the Queer-Straight Alliance at Chapel Hill High School.
The Chapel Hill High School Queer-Straight Alliance (QSA) has actively been making changes around campus and helping to make it a more friendly place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students for a quarter of a century.
Officially established in 1994 under the name of the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), the club was the first of its kind in the state. It helped to spark the conversation about gay students and provide them with a safe space.
In recent years, the scope of the club has broadened, focusing more on the LGBTQ community as a whole.
Changing the club’s name to the QSA—the name change is first reflected in the 2013 Hillife yearbook—members wanted to show that any member of the LGBTQ community is welcome.
“I think that the club evolved from a GSA to a QSA to begin to recognize gender diversity as a part of the LGBTQ spectrum,” Abigail Stern, the club’s president in the 2015-16 school year, said. “The focus on creating a safe space for trans and gender nonconforming students has come to our attention more publicly in the recent years.”
Yen Nguyen, the vice president of the club for 2016-17, agreed that inclusion has increased the club’s safe atmosphere.
“I am happy that the club functions as a safe space,” Nguyen said. “While I was involved, the club also did some educational outreach and advocacy.”
Senior Claire Woodrow, one of two current co-presidents of the QSA, described the club as “a safe space to be unique, a place to learn more about the LGBTQ community, especially intersectionality and current events, and somewhere to celebrate being queer.”
In the two years that online learning facilitator Daniel Reinholz has been the club’s advisor, he has focused on providing logistical support for the QSA, but has had a largely hands-off approach, letting the members decide what they want to do.
“I normally close the room down during lunches when the QSA is having a meeting,” Reinholz said. “That way kids that want to come in and talk about these personal issues, and talk about them frankly, [can] without having to debate with other folks.”
In recent years, the club has made great strides towards equal LGBTQ representation at Chapel Hill High School. In 2016, the QSA helped to create a gender neutral bathroom on campus; the following year the club lead an inclusivity workshop for all the teachers at the school.
Although Woodrow believes these two achievements have overshadowed most of the recent activities of the club, members have been busy helping support the LGBTQ community at Chapel Hill
“I think the vast majority of the QSA’s achievements have been on a lower profile,” Woodrow said. “They impact the school and community on a smaller, equally important, level. Last year, the QSA held workshops to educate LGBTQ students about policies in place to protect their rights. We have also held fundraisers to benefit local LGBTQ-friendly homeless shelters and painted murals in the school to try and normalize queerness in public places.”
The club’s fight for equality, however, is still not done.
One of the biggest challenges Woodrow sees the club currently facing is the recent increase in open hate towards the LGBTQ community and other minorities.
“I think the club will have the hardest time dealing with the rise in open hate that has become, wrongfully, more socially acceptable in the past few years.” Woodrow said.
In Stern’s eyes, the primary enemy is ignorance.
“I think it’s important to continue to educate about the basics of the LGBTQ spectrum in high school,” she said. “In addition to what it means to be gay or bi, we also need to explain what it means to be trans or gender nonconforming.”
Freshman Grace Davis, elected club president for the 2019-20 school year, believes that a different type of ignorance is a larger concern.
“An issue the club should address is making students aware of the resources that are available in the school,” she said. “I know that the guidance counselors have a lot of stuff for suicide prevention for LGBTQ students and numbers for hotlines.”
There are fliers around the school advertising certain rooms as safe spaces, showing support for LGBTQ students and listing resources. The counseling department also offers a space where any student can go to talk to a counselor or take a break from the rush of a normal school day.
The club itself provides valuable resources for its members; yet, like the ones the school offers, not as many people know about them as Davis would like.
“I know that Smith and McDougle both have QSAs. My main goal is to make sure the rising ninth graders know that we have these resources; we have the QSA and they should be an active member of it,” Davis said. “I definitely want to do more outreach programs to make it known that the club exists.”
In the 2018-19 school year, around four students attended every meeting, though around 20 people signed up at club day.
Woodrow is not too worried, though.
“There is always [an] ebb and flow to every student organization, but I have noticed a somewhat downward trend in attendance,” she said. “This may be because people feel comfortable in their sexuality and feel Chapel Hill High School is open enough to not require participation in any organization.”
