Putting the "S" in GSA

As a straight, white male with no definitive religious beliefs, life has been relatively calm in my closed, private-school world in New York City. Yet with the coming of high school also came the school's gay-straight alliance into my life.

I discovered the GSA, which formed three years ago, during my freshman-year here at Trinity. Through attending meetings and getting to know the other members, a new window opened for me – a window into another world, where not everyone's parents loved them for who they were, where people could not expect to be accepted wherever they went. Being in the GSA opened my eyes to a new and different culture of people, of whom I had no prior knowledge beyond the occasional column on Gays in the Military done by the "New York Times".

In October of 1999, last year’s club president and I went to GLSEN's Teaching Respect For All conference, and I once again stepped into a larger world. I met with gay kids, lesbian kids, bisexual kids, transgender kids, and kids who had no idea what they were but felt wonderful anyway. For the first time in my life I was part of a minority of straight people. At first I was a little apprehensive, but the LGBTQ students showed me around, taught me how to dance, offered to let me stay at the hostel with them. We became really close friends. All feelings of alienation were quickly replaced by curiosity for those whose lives were so different and yet so similar to my own.

As the current president of our GSA, I’ve come to realize that leading a GSA isn't all fun and games. Although I have never been harassed directly, I am fully aware of the attitudes of some of my fellow students toward me. Many seem confused by my involvement with what they call a "gay" club. Others simply assumed that I am gay. My friends have told me about derogatory comments that both students and school staff have made.

People always ask why I care about a movement that does not include me. My answer is that the gay rights movement should include me. Although I am straight, I know people affected by hate and prejudice – they are my friends. I believe that everyone who has seen the face of hatred, whether affected by it or not, should be involved in preventing it. If my sexual orientation prevents me from working at a GSA, then that organization (and I) would be as bigoted as those who oppose it. That is why I am involved with my GSA. That is why I sit every week with other students not afraid to face prejudice. That is why I work with them to teach respect in our school. And that is why I refuse to sit idle while religious extremists discuss the morality of a lifestyle that they have never experienced.

Part of the problem facing the gay rights movement is that it is carried on the shoulders of gay people alone. The entire purpose of our GSA is to educate people not to hate their friends purely on the basis of sexual orientation. This process cannot be accomplished without the help of straight educators and students to make the voices of our GSA heard. I care about what I do for my GSA because I feel that, as a straight student, I can contribute something to them that no one also can. To withhold that would be a great wrongdoing on my part.

U.S. Representative John Lewis once said that the next great movement in America would be the gay rights movement. His words make me remember there are white people fighting for black people's rights in the civil rights movement. There are men fighting for women's rights in the feminist movement. I would be greatly ashamed if there were no straight people fighting for gay rights in our movement.

..................... Caleb Baker Trinity School- Bronx, NY

---

As the president of Trinity’s Gay-Straight Alliance, Caleb feels that youth have yet to play their role in the battle against homophobia and he strives to make a difference in an adult dominated world.