On Monday, January 7, 2018, the Gay-Straight Alliance brought a presentation before the school faculty to educate and inform the teachers on how to handle issues related to LGBTQ+ students and also stop and prevent bullying in the classroom.

Co-President James Hanan, junior, began by defining the acronym LGBTQ+. He also spoke very strongly about the importance of a GSA in schools.

“People can make friends who support them. Some students aren’t supported at home and school might be their only refuge,” Hanan said.

Hanan shared a personal story of teacher intervention in Ms. Balboa’s class, as an example to other teachers and staff.

“In a corner, a bunch of boys were saying things like, ‘that’s so gay.’ As someone who is gay, hearing that type of stuff is mean because it is us[ing] the word gay in a negative connotation. Ms. Balboa walked up to them and said, ‘Well, gay means happy, so aren’t we all a little gay?’ The way she handled the situation wasn’t confrontational, but it shut them up really quickly.”

He also let teachers know what they can do to help kids who are in this community, and possibly facing homophobia.

“Teachers can let their kids know that office hours aren’t just for work. They can speak up if they hear bullying or just someone saying, ‘that’s so gay.’ They can be supportive or willing to listen,” Hanan said.

“We understand that this might be unfamiliar to some of you, and we understand that some of you might not want to support us, but please respect us as we will respect you.”

He also touched on the need for teachers to get to know their students, using an example of Ms. Coponiti’s beginning of year survey which asked questions like “What would you like to be called?” and “If I call home, what can I not talk about?”

Hanan stressed the importance of making sure to know what name to call a student because names can be extremely important to transgender kids. He also encouraged teachers to know what needs to be confidential between teacher and student, as many kids might be “out” at school, but not at home.

Principal Ms. George added to this by telling a story which resonated personally to her, speaking of her niece, who had struggled with her identity during her youth.

“We were all trying to figure out, ‘What does this mean?’,” George said. “I didn’t know if I [should] call her a ‘him’ or a ‘her’. It was really confusing, [but] I got to learn what it was like for an individual to go through this. I now have a nephew, named Hadyn, and he is the happiest I’ve ever seen him.”

The current sponsors for GSA are Ms. Davis, who is “the lady behind the glass” in the counseling office, and Ms. Lowery, who teaches math in room 714. They took over this year after Ms. Sidwell, the prior sponsor, left.

“It was definitely an opportunity for us to take the GSA in a completely different path, and it was completely led by the students. Ms. Lowery and I have been letting them lead with some course correction here and there,” Ms. Davis said.

“At the beginning of the year, Ms. Lowery and I asked, ‘What do you guys want to accomplish?’” They said ‘We want to educate. We want the staff to know and be able to support us.’”

Right now, they are aiming for adjustments within Kempsville. “It’s like leading the charge for change,” Hanan said.“We’re here; we’re putting in the effort to change our school for the better and make it feel more like the family that everyone says because we want the family to be a loving family. We have to put effort into that.”

GSA meets the first and third Monday of every month during lunch and the first and third Wednesday of every month after school in room 714. They are open to anybody in the LGBTQ+ community, or just to anybody wanting to be more educated and show their support.