GSA has been a club at Liberty for a while now. But recently, the members of the LGBTQIA+ community are at risk of being silenced nationwide by the government. Luckily, this club has been able to stay in operation with the GSA elections coming up soon.

GSA has two members running for two positions. Kaya Egeler is running for Secretary/Social Media Manager, and Maryiah Shorter is running for Treasurer/Events Coordinator. 

“I would like to see more events be more planned out since we didn’t have any this year. And I hope that Maryiah [Shorter] can do that,” Egeler said. While there might have been a lack of events for GSA this year, there were still activities that you could partake in during the meetings. 

“I liked that we got to do fun and crafty activities and just take a little break from schoolwork,” Shorter said. Whether the crafts were making pins or making friendship bracelets, they all seemed to enjoy it. One craft in particular was painting rocks to display outside the front doors. 

“I would like to start doing fundraisers to help raise money for LGBTQ+ organizations,” Shorter said. Maryiah is running for the Treasurer/Event Coordinator position. Whoever holds that position would be responsible for planning events for the club and the allocation of funds for the club. And after not having any events this year, they would be able to set the standard for the future of GSA.

“I joined GSA my freshman year, because of my friend Cairo. They wanted someone to go with them and I had nothing else to do,” explains Callahan Altheimer on why they joined GSA. Even though they were just accompanying their friend to a meeting, they found a place with people they liked being around. When they were asked about how they felt about GSA this past year, Altheimer replied “I was pretty happy with GSA this year, I had a lot of fun.”

GSA has been a safe place for students who want to be themselves without the judgment of people around them. It is a welcoming environment for anyone. Whether you’re straight, gay, bi, pan, aroace, or anything, GSA welcomes you. If you’re CIS, trans, non-binary, agender, demigender, or anything, GSA welcomes you. They just ask that you be respectful and open to others.