I might be about to get the ACLU to go after my school

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Here's a letter I sent, which explains the situation.

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[Miles]

Did you check this page out?

[dead0man]

My oldest daughter is in the GSA, it's one of the bigger after school groups at her HS.  Good luck with your quest to get it going at yours.

[Oakvale]

What's a "Gay-Straight Alliance"?

e: Of course I forgot there was a thing called "Google".

[LastVoter]

To be honest I find the name of the club "Gay-Straight alliance" pretty lulzy. Not trying to be offensive, but it probably comes across that way. Was there really no better alternative when the first clubs were being created?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I never got the concept of an "alliance". It seems to imply that outside of that class room they're using temporarily after school, there's some sort of all out gay-straight war. It also seems to imply that if there were such a war, the gay part is on an equal footing with the straight part in terms of manpower and territory. It's just a weird, awkward, laughable name to me. "Before we formed, there was war. And not just the heroic kind, but all out boody war. But when a member of the straight state department came into contact with a gay colonel, they soon realized that 'Hey, we're not so different after all'. And there, the treaty now commonly known as the "Gay-Straight Alliance" was forged, soon to be ratified by both the gay and straight nations."

[Oakvale]

To be honest I find the name of the club "Gay-Straight alliance" pretty lulzy. Not trying to be offensive, but it probably comes across that way. Was there really no better alternative when the first clubs were being created?

I never got the concept of an "alliance". It seems to imply that outside of that class room they're using temporarily after school, there's some sort of all out gay-straight war. It also seems to imply that if there were such a war, the gay part is on an equal footing with the straight part in terms of manpower and territory. It's just a weird, awkward, laughable name to me. "Before we formed, there was war. And not just the heroic kind, but all out boody war. But when a member of the straight state department came into contact with a gay colonel, they soon realized that 'Hey, we're not so different after all'. And there, the treaty now commonly known as the "Gay-Straight Alliance" was forged, soon to be ratified by both the gay and straight nations."

Yeah, the name made me giggle a bit - it's kind of a silly, over-the-top choice, no?

[dead0man]

You've met gay people right?

[Platypus]

Equality club sounds like a much better, and more inclusive, name. Not everyone who is non-het is a gay.

[ilikeverin]

To be honest I find the name of the club "Gay-Straight alliance" pretty lulzy. Not trying to be offensive, but it probably comes across that way. Was there really no better alternative when the first clubs were being created?

I never got the concept of an "alliance". It seems to imply that outside of that class room they're using temporarily after school, there's some sort of all out gay-straight war. It also seems to imply that if there were such a war, the gay part is on an equal footing with the straight part in terms of manpower and territory. It's just a weird, awkward, laughable name to me. "Before we formed, there was war. And not just the heroic kind, but all out boody war. But when a member of the straight state department came into contact with a gay colonel, they soon realized that 'Hey, we're not so different after all'. And there, the treaty now commonly known as the "Gay-Straight Alliance" was forged, soon to be ratified by both the gay and straight nations."

Yeah, the name made me giggle a bit - it's kind of a silly, over-the-top choice, no?

It's a pretty standard name for an organization having anything to do with LGBT issues in a high school setting.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Equality club sounds like a much better, and more inclusive, name. Not everyone who is non-het is a gay.

I went to a school that had a 'Queer-Straight Alliance', which was semantically preferable but just sounded bizarre.

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

My school barely avoided this situation.  It's now the 3rd or 4th largest club in my mainly conservative high school. lol.

[LastVoter]

My school barely avoided this situation.  It's now the 3rd or 4th largest club in my mainly conservative high school. lol.

Conservative high school is almost an oxymoron. My suburban high school voted 60-65% for Obama(can't remember) in Richland, WA, which probably votedat least 60% Republican.

[Lambsbread]

At my school it's just called "The Alliance"

Formerly known as the "The Gay Straight Alliance"

[Oakvale]

That's cringeworthy - I  second my platypus friend from Australia, what's wrong with "equality club" or something? "Gay-Straight Alliance" sounds like the lamest superhero crimefighting unit in history.

Obviously this is the important issue here.

[CLARENCE 2015!]

I understand a club for gay students but what exactly is a "Gay-Straight Alliance"?

[Fuzzybigfoot]

To be honest I find the name of the club "Gay-Straight alliance" pretty lulzy. Not trying to be offensive, but it probably comes across that way. Was there really no better alternative when the first clubs were being created?

My high school club was named exactly that, but we were in 70% Obama land.  

[Yelnoc]

I understand a club for gay students but what exactly is a "Gay-Straight Alliance"?

A club that both gays and straights join, I guess to show that they get along.  Colleges probably like that.

[Oakvale]

I understand a club for gay students but what exactly is a "Gay-Straight Alliance"?

A club that both gays and straights join, I guess to show that they get along.  Colleges probably like that.

What do they... y'know... do, though?

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

My school barely avoided this situation.  It's now the 3rd or 4th largest club in my mainly conservative high school. lol.

Conservative high school is almost an oxymoron. My suburban high school voted 60-65% for Obama(can't remember) in Richland, WA, which probably votedat least 60% Republican.

By conservative I mean at least 40% republican. Almost 55% of our student government here are conservatives.

My high school is FAR from the average HS  btw.

[Lambsbread]

I understand a club for gay students but what exactly is a "Gay-Straight Alliance"?

A club that both gays and straights join, I guess to show that they get along.  Colleges probably like that.

What do they... y'know... do, though?

Promote tolerance and equality.

[LastVoter]

My school barely avoided this situation.  It's now the 3rd or 4th largest club in my mainly conservative high school. lol.

Conservative high school is almost an oxymoron. My suburban high school voted 60-65% for Obama(can't remember) in Richland, WA, which probably votedat least 60% Republican.

By conservative I mean at least 40% republican. Almost 55% of our student government here are conservatives.

My high school is FAR from the average HS  btw.

Well what I mean is that probably over 90% of high schools in US voted for the democratic candidate, considering that I lived in one of the most conservative areas in Washington that's like R+20, and the school body still voted democratic.

[CatoMinor]

If you need to get help I recommend contacting F.I.R.E. we got them to come and help us on my campus after our Free Speech Wall incident last semester and they can be a great help. Not only did the school back down on the policy we were protesting, FIRE is now making them look at other areas in the school policy that violate 1st amendment rights.

(for further details google "SHSU" + " Obama" lol)

[Mechaman]

That's cringeworthy - I  second my platypus friend from Australia, what's wrong with "equality club" or something? "Gay-Straight Alliance" sounds like the lamest superhero crimefighting unit in history.

Obviously this is the important issue here.

^^^^^
Thread Over.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I understand a club for gay students but what exactly is a "Gay-Straight Alliance"?

A club that both gays and straights join, I guess to show that they get along.  Colleges probably like that.

What do they... y'know... do, though?

Mostly talk about "gay issues," like coming out and discrimination and whatnot. My college's gay straight alliance ran a anonymous hotline for at-risk gay youth to call. Others plan "gay proms" and similar things.

Basically, it's just a collection of gay folks (and their allies) who work to make sure that at least someone, even if it's a dorky club, is acting in the gays' best interest.