100 signatures reached
To: Mr. Todd Hockenbroch, the principal
We need a GSA at Shamokin Area High School!
Allow us to start a GSA at Shamokin Area, and treat our GSA as you would any other club. We need to educate and support our peers.
Why is this important?
At Shamokin, members of the LGBT+ community are constantly put down and slammed. There isn't really a safe space, even in places I thought there were. I'm lucky to have a good group of friends, but it doesn't stop people from making hateful comments. And I know it happens to the people who have even less support than I do. Our school NEEDS this.
A Genders & Sexualities Alliance club, or GSA, would provide a much-needed safe place for students to meet, support each other, talk about issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity, and work to create positive change on campus.
Under the Federal Equal Access Act (http://www.gsanetwork.org/federal-equal-access-act), any school that receives government funding and has at least one other non-curricular club is legally required to also allow a GSA. Legally, public schools with other clubs must let students start a GSA -- and must treat the GSA like any other student club! Schools can't make up rules that only apply to the GSA and nobody else.
GSAs have been proven to make schools safer for all students. Allow us to start a GSA so that ALL students can succeed.