Junior Stephanie Haverkamp joined Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) last year to find a way to come out as bisexual to her family. At the first meeting she attended, it was only her and junior Lane Weis. After no one showed up for ten minutes, they left without discussing anything. Now, Weis and Haverkamp are co-presidents with an average of 20 people attending the meetings.

“If you want to come to a safe place and talk about pretty much anything you want to talk about, come here,” Haverkamp said.

GSA acts as a safe environment for LGBT+ students to discuss current events ranging from the Kim Davis issue to more personal problems happening within the walls of the school.

The club hangs posters with meeting times, and members are encouraged to bring their friends to meetings. Because GSA is not exclusive to just LGBT+ students, many of the club members are there as allies to listen to and support their peers.

In addition to supporting each other, the club spends time celebrating LGBT+ holidays such as Bisexuality Awareness Week in September. Additionally, Haverkamp and Weis hung posters and informed students about National Coming Out Day on October 11.

Sponsor and social studies teacher Jordan Boyd is a much appreciated asset to the club.

“I think she adds to the quality of the club,” senior Steele Jacobs said. “With my experience with Ms. Boyd, she has been very accepting and just kind of relatable.”

After being asked to be a sponsor last year, Boyd immediately felt drawn to the cause.

“I felt passionate about LGBT issues for a long time,” Boyd said. “I grew up in Topeka and it was a pretty unaccepting community where I was, so that made me want to fight.”

Although Boyd is the sponsor, GSA is largely a student-run club. Weis plans all of the meetings and arranges all of the guest speakers. Boyd rarely feels she needs to do anything aside from getting GSA in the announcements. However, she has been working to expand the club’s scope outside of the school.

“I’ve been in communication with a few other people in other buildings,” Boyd said. “Right now we’ve talked about what can happen and what we can do if we want to have any cross-building communication or if we want to do any events together.”

The club hopes to arrange a pride parade with the help of the GSAs at LHS and KU in the future. For now, however, the club’s members hope to continue creating a safe space for students.

“I just want other people to feel like they have a safe place to come out and be who they want to be instead of having stereotypes thrown at their face,” Haverkamp said.