A lot of schools have GSAs, but what does it mean? For years I had known the acronym to stand for Gay-Straight Alliance. This always struck me as weird and just flat out wrong. There are more than just gay and straight people in the meetings and in the world. What about the bisexuals, pansexuals, asexuals, transgender, non-binary, and on and on. Where do they fit in? The intention of these groups are good. They can be immensely beneficial to the queer community. But whether they mean to or not, the name of the group is a form of erasure.
In college we have Queer Club. While this is a very inclusive name, some people are uncomfortable using the reclaimed slur. This is entirely understandable. But where does that leave us? What should we call these groups?
My senior year in high school, they changed the meaning of GSA. The acronym now stood for the Gender and Sexuality Alliance. I find this name to be far more inclusive, and does not use a reclaim slur.
If anyone out there is planning on creating an LGBT+ group, or currently has a GSA, consider calling it a Gender and Sexuality Alliance. I think you would be hard pressed to come up with a more inclusive name.
Anyone have a different name for their group? Curious as to what else is out there.
Ace of Spades 