Maya McFadden photos
Cross GSA: Zulaikha Khan, Alejandro Zacatelco, Levi, Jaime Soares, Gema, and Mikey.
Pins made by Cross GSA for teachers to wear and put up in classrooms.
More “You Are Safe With Me” pins and “This Is A Safe Place” stickers are popping up around Wilbur Cross High School hallways thanks to the efforts of the school’s recently revived Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA).
The small but mighty GSA of about a half-dozen students brought back the club during the 2021 – 22 school year after it had been dormant since 2007.
While student numbers fluctuate, the club’s mission to make the school building safe, comfortable, and inclusive remains at the city’s largest high school.
This reporter joined the group on a recent Thursday as the teens, as well as club facilitator and English teacher Jaime Soares, met to discuss the club’s upcoming Pride Festival, scheduled for May. The students also reflected on the school’s changes since the club has returned after a nearly 15-year hiatus.
Cross junior Alejandro Zacatelco helped lead the group’s revival during his freshman year. He was inspired primarily due to a school-wide lack of knowledge about LGBTQ students, he said.
The GSA began meeting again during the 2021 – 22 school year. Since then, the group has provided students in need with annual care packages, held food drives, and created a growing presence in the building. The annual student care packages include a backpack full of snacks, toiletries, a blanket, gloves, a hat, and a scarf.
So far the GSA has focused on building community and educating staff and students on race, gender, and sexuality. Click here and here to watch some of their educational videos.
The GSA has put up educational bulletin boards about the occurrence of hate crimes, the AIDS epidemic, and queer history around the Mitchell Drive school building to remind the school community the importance of providing LGBTQIA+ students with safe spaces.
“When you have a GSA, it tells kids it’s acceptable to be themselves,” junior Zulaikha Khan said. “Before we had a GSA, LGBTQ wasn’t an open topic we could talk about.”
Last school year the students made a board for Transgender Day of Remembrance which showed the faces of several dozens of trans people around the country who were killed as a result of hate crimes in just 2022. This year the group didn’t have a big enough wall to fill with the faces of trans people killed.
Soares’ second floor classroom — decorated with LGBTQ flags, slickers, and pronoun pins — has become more than just the GSA meeting spot. It’s a daily, go-to safe place for students during the school day.
Last year the students recalled several teachers incorrectly using students’ pronouns and deadnaming trans students. Some students also complained about trans students using the bathroom that they are most comfortable in.
Soares spoke to her colleagues to educate them. Some teachers, she said, struggled to understand the students’ concerns because of cultural differences but tried to correct their mistakes. Soares also explained to students the importance of advocating for more gender-neutral bathrooms and expressing safety concerns for their peers when they are required to use bathrooms they don’t feel comfortable in.
According to GSA members, there have been improvements this year.
Soares said she hopes one day the school can invest in reoccurring sensitivity training for staff and students. She’s offered in the past to host the training.
For the past two years the GSA has provided staff at the start of the year with letters about the GSA and stickers and pins they can put in their classrooms. During the year, students also offer staff handmade pride keychains.
Khan said as an ally in the GSA, she aims to make her peers feel comfortable with who they are at a big school and educate others about the importance of being open to new knowledge. “It’s important for students to have one safe space to be who they are,” she said.
The group also provided incoming freshmen this year with pouches full of school supplies like pencils, a ruler, scissors, and deodorant. “If it’s normalized for the freshmen then they can keep it going,” Zacatelco said.
Senior Gema described GSA as a way to create community. “It’s to let people know that there are people who support them and are like them in world of negativity,” Gema said.
Gema added that “the GSA is the one thing that keeps me coming back to school. Otherwise I was going to drop out.”
The club’s Pride celebration came about because of students’ interest in going to the New York Pride Parade. The Cross festival will provide students and their families with activities like face painting and henna. The group is also looking to hire a drag queen to perform at the event. (Click here to donate.)
