Forming a GSA

With 501 school districts in Pennsylvania, there are well over 100 Gay Straight Alliances at schools K-12 in our state. Frequently GSAs are based in high schools but we are increasingly seeing middle school and district-wide GSAs being formed. In starting advocacy to form a GSAs - it is important to know the best practices to do so and be prepared with a full legal and moral case to support the club formation in case you run into an unsupportive school board, school staff, or teachers.

PSEC is the process of developing a full resource guide on how to start at GSA in Pennsylvania. Below are some critical resources which may prove to be useful for you either as a student, educator, parent/guardian, or administrator.

The Law
The Federal Equal Access Act of 1984 (Department of Justice)
PRIDE v. White County School District – Case Profile (The ACLU of Ohio)
Boyd High GSA v. Boyd Co. Board of Education – Case Profile (The ACLU of Kentucky)
Information on the federal Equal Access Act from ReligiousTolerance.org

Policy Letters
Key Policy Letters from the US Education Secretary and Deputy Secretary – Support LGBT Students and the formation of GSAs (2011)
An open letter to school administrators about why they must allow students to form GSAs (The ACLU)

How-to Guides
GLSEN: GSA Jump-start Guide (GLSEN)

Academic Studies
High School Gay–Straight Alliances (GSAs) and Young Adult Well-Being: An Examination of GSA Presence, Participation, and Perceived Effectiveness (Applied Developmental Science – Volume 15, Issue 4, 2011)

Additional Information
Gay/Straight Clubs Formed by Public School Students: Why School Officials Need to Treat Them Equally (The ACLU)