Queer Straight Alliance: Searching for a safe place

When Kayla Weiss came to Sonoma State University as a freshman, it seemed like a given that she would get involved in the Queer Straight Alliance on campus--after all, she had been in her high school's Gay Straight Alliance.

"I try to do as much as I can to be involved in my community," said Weiss in an e-mail interview.

Now a senior, Weiss, a double major in women's and gender studies and Hutchins, serves as President of QSA in her final year at SSU, leading around 50 members coming from a variety of backgrounds and identities, many of whom are heterosexual allies. With this year's group of QSA members, there has been an increase in men and freshman members joining the club.

According to QSA's club profile on OrgSync, the organization serves as a community for people who identity as part of the queer community, whether as an ally or as someone who identifies as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer or Questioning.

To Kelan Carrizosa, QSA has gone above and beyond its mission statement.

"I am very firm in my belief that QSA can help a lot of ‘closeted' and frightened current and future SSU students come to terms with their emotional, psychological and social turmoil in a positive way," said Carrizosa, a junior who joined QSA after transferring to SSU in the fall. "If nothing else, QSA provides a supportive, non-judgmental environment for people to be heard and can help direct people to resources if they need more than what we can provide."

To foster this community, QSA plans co-curricular events that relate to the gay community throughout the year.

The organization will be hosting its annual Gender Bender drag and performance show this semester, according to Weiss, followed by a dance. Movie nights, fun meetings, diversity events, tabling, poolside barbecues, lunches and Rainbow Graduation for graduating members are also in the works for this semester.

Planning for the events have been temporarily put on hold as the organization prepares for officer elections on Friday, Jan. 27. With the departure of two of their officers and their advisor, the group is currently focused on filling the open positions so they can re-charter and exist on campus.

Weiss, however, is not worried about filling the officer positions, as she explained that members expressed interest in running for the positions right away.

"We have some fantastic members who have already contacted me about taking on leadership positions, so I think it's looking like it will be a great semester once we confirm positions," she said.

QSA also participates in activism and philanthropic efforts on and off-campus. Besides participating in the Multicultural Center's Tunnel of Oppression and the annual Day of Silence, which in a national effort using silence to protest the silencing of LGBTIQQ due to harassment, bias and abuse in schools, QSA has held several coming out panels for various classes, including the freshmen university classes. More are being scheduled for this semester, as well as one that will be part of a Freshmen Interest Group event.

"When we have done panels in various classes, we seem to have gotten some great responses and have been able to educate others and make visible our diverse experiences with being LGBT or an ally," said Weiss.

Carrizosa participated in nearly every coming out panel in his first semester at SSU and found it to not only be a powerful tool for the students he was speaking to, but for himself.

"Because of my participation in the Coming Out Panels, coupled with the experience of being in a new environment, I found and gave voice to emotions and opinions about what being gay and being a man means," he explained.

Besides the positive responses from the coming out panels, Weiss believes that, overall, the SSU campus community has been supportive of LGBTIQQ students and their rights.

"Generally, I feel like SSU is a fairly safe place fore LGBT people to be ‘out,'" she said.

"I do have to say, the support from faculty and staff at SSU has been particularly touching and empowering, at least in my experience," she added.

For freshman Nick Hunley, he feels the same way: according to him, professors and faculty do well to accommodate the needs of the LGBTIQQ community on campus. However, he said he couldn't say the same about the student population, especially as he walks around campus and, especially, the cafeteria.