An Announcement from the GSA
Let’s Make Our School a Better Place

Martina Navratilova, Melissa Etheridge, Elton John, Julie Anne Peters, Rosie O’Donnell, Harvey Milk, and KT Tunstall. What do these people have in common? They are all Homosexual. And these are just some famous gays and lesbians; there are many more and then, there is the non-famous population. October has been claimed as Gay History Month. These are people in history that may very well never effect you. So how about we take away “history” and put in present day WHS.

Daily the student population uses words like “gay”, “fag” and “dyke” to describe their peers and things they don’t like. “That’s so gay.” is such a common phrase that people don’t even respond to it anymore. But the thing is that these homophobic statements (yes, they are homophobic) need to be responded to. The response should be “Stop with the offense.”

Each year hundreds of harassment situations of LGBT youth and adults aren’t reported. Which licenses the hate and abuse to go on. So why don’t they report it? Why do they keep silent? Because they’re scared. It’s not only on the queer community to report the abuse but on the hetero one too. Everybody needs to do their part to stop the silence. And it’s upon everyone’s shoulders to help do something about the situation.

So here are some ways you can help make WHS and the world a better place for the Gay and Lesbian community:

Lead by example: don’t use offensive terms yourself and it
might just catch on.
Report: that’s simple enough. Report acts of hate, abuse and
discrimination to a responsible adult.
Say Something: when you hear a peer (or anyone for that matter)
make a remark that is discriminatory, hateful, or abusive say
something to them, maybe they’ll think twice next time.

It’s not hard to change the world if we all work together towards a safer tomorrow. For more information about the WHS Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) go to room 104 and talk to Ms. Baitler the GSA advisor.