Hello, my name is Gemini, and I am interested in starting a GSA Club at my school. I'm currently in 7th grade, and I am a queer student at Denver School of the Arts in the Park Hill neighborhood. I am a young queer teen in America, and right now that is a really hard thing to be. With bans on trans healthcare, book-banning, and Don't Say Gay laws, we must stand with all queer people. As I said before, especially in this current political climate, it is incredibly important for queer people to have safe spaces to be themselves, free of judgement and repression. For a progressive, safe school like DSA, I have absolutely no doubt that a GSA club would help improve the demeanor and culture of our school. When I found out there wasn't a GSA Club for middle school at DSA, I was shocked! My school is such a welcoming community to those who are different, so it's a no-brainer  that DSA middle school should have an opportunity to have this club. I know many people (20+) that would strongly support this in my own grade alone, and there is a thriving queer community at DSA, so it's really important that  we have a place to congregate, free from the burden of cis/heteronormativity.  If you support queer safe spaces, authenticity, and the LGBTQIA2SPN+ community, please sign this petition to convince the administration to let us have our safe space. Let's make some change people, because those in power are telling us that we don't deserve to exist and that our voices don't matter, and that privileged people will sit back and let that all happen, but we won't right? We're going to fight for our right to be seen, aren't we?

If you have any questions regarding what a GSA is, or why you should care, please head to the following websites and resources:

https://gsanetwork.org/what-is-a-gsa/​

https://gsanetwork.org/resources/10-steps-for-starting-a-gsa/​

https://www.glsen.org/support-student-gsas​

https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/lynch-school/lynch-news/2023-news-archive/BC-researcher-examines-impact-of-GSA-clubs.html​

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/data-on-transgender-youth/​

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7821966/#:~:text=A%20meta%2Danalysis%20of%2015,Marx%20%26%20Kettrey%2C%202016​

https://www.glsen.org/news/new-research-shows-positive-impact-gender-and-sexuality-alliances-schools​

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/su/su7304a6.htm

If all that wasn't enough to convince you, then look at all of the executive orders regarding queer people that are currently being attempted by our president, and think about whether or not you want to deny a space to queer youth to be safe and happy.