Throughout the hallways of Dominion, there are posters advertising our school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. The posters are vivid and eye-catching, while also correlating to the subject of the club through the use of the rainbow, and identifier for LGBT awareness. However, the eye-catching nature of the posters does not seem to be convincing people to join, as Dominion’s Gay-Straight Alliance is a near-desolate environment as of now.

Such an uncongested environment could possibly encourage those few participants to be more outgoing, as it would be more personal with everyone more capable of getting to know one another. It would instill in the minds of confused teens the idea that there would be less people capable of shunning you once they have heard what you have to say.

Does the fact that Dominion’s Gay-Straight Alliance is fairly unknown promote coexistence all the time, beyond the parameters of a club that meets occasionally? Or does the fact that the club does not spread information promote ignorance?

The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) claims that when Gay-Straight Alliances are “present, LGBT students hear homophobic remarks less often.” This fact alone displays how selfish it is to have a Gay-Straight Alliance that does not actively promote awareness. Dominion High School is an environment in which the spewing of homophobic remarks happens far too often, and an active Gay-Straight Alliance would at least partially remedy this.

The foundation of Dominion’s Gay-Straight Alliance may be flawed, promoting introspection rather than the spread of awareness, but the basis of Gay-Straight Alliances as a whole is flawed as well.

The main problem with having a Gay-Straight Alliance in such a susceptible environment as high school is that it perpetuates the stereotype that LGBT persons are incapable of obtaining equal status within society without the help straight people. If a Gay-Straight Alliance predominantly consists of homosexual individuals, the basis of the club is the promotion of self-reflection and smaller discussions of occasionally “taboo” topics. If the majority of the club is straight people, then it becomes “straight people helping gay people.”

In order for a middle ground to be discovered, the prospective achievements of the club should be better reflected in both the club’s premise and its name. If the goal is to solidify equality within a high school, then perhaps it should be called the “Equality Club.” If its goal is to provide a safe and nonjudgmental environment in which occasionally difficult topics can be discussed between high school students, and just between LGBT students, as isolation is not a way towards equality, then surely a better-suited name could be utilized.