With the blessing from school district officials, a local advocacy group is aiming to strengthen support for gay and lesbian students in Syracuse public high schools this spring.
Their method is what are called “gay-straight alliances” — student groups or clubs that provide a safe and supportive environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered students and their straight allies.
“The presence of a gay-straight alliance sends a message to the entire community that the administration of the school acknowledges the presence of gay students and values them and has included them as members of the school community,” said Elizabeth Payne, executive director of the Queering Education Research Institute. It is a local research think tank affiliated with Syracuse University’s School of Education.
But expanding the alliances to all four Syracuse City School District high schools is challenging, say Payne and other supporters. The chief barrier: Few teachers are willing to become advisors for these groups.
Many faculty members worry that being a part of a gay-straight alliance is risky, said Payne. “There is still a fear,” she said, “that they won’t get tenure or adversely affect their job some way if they are associated with LGBT issues.”
In the Syracuse City School District, only Henninger High School has a gay-straight alliance. It started in 2005. Payne credits the group’s continued life to faculty and staff support. “That’s why [the alliance] has had such longevity,” she said.
The other district high schools have tried to start alliances, Payne said. But, she said, they didn’t last long because they lacked the continuous support of a committed faculty advisor.
Corcoran, for example, briefly had an alliance operating last year. But the group’s advisor left and no other faculty member has stepped in, Payne said. Fowler High School has held meetings about potentially starting one, but has never got past planning stages, she said.
Her advocacy group is now pinning its hopes on a new coaching program to educate high school faculty on how to start up their own gay-straight alliance, Payne said. After a semester of training, Payne said, she hopes the high school advisors will be comfortable enough to advise their own groups.
“We’re waiting for who’s going to do it,” she said.
At East Syracuse-Minoa High School, a gay-straight alliance has existed since 2006. The school is part of the East Syracuse Minoa Central School District.
Michael White, a school guidance councilor, is in his first year as the alliance’s advisor. One reason teachers are hesitant to fill the role of gay-straight alliance advisors, he said, is ignorance of the issues and problems facing the young LGBT community.
“It’s a fear of the unknown and teachers feel ill-equipped to handle a group like this,” White said.
Every Wednesday upwards to 20 students attend meetings where they talk, hang out and vent, White says. East Minoa is no stranger to gay bullying, said White. Posters put up by the alliance are sometimes pulled down. And White says his student often tell him they are called names.
But with the alliance in place, White said, the school has become more understanding and accepting of the LGBT community. For example, he said, a transgendered student who identifies as male is listed in the school system as male and the student is addressed by male pronouns.
“He said he has never felt that comfortable before,” White said. He credits that comfort as a success for the gay-straight alliance. Said White: “I personally think it’s a critical club at the school.”
(Luis Rendon is a graduate student in magazine, newspaper and online journalism.)
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