Gender identification and sexual orientation are topics that are not taken lightly in present-day society. The Gender Sexuality Alliance Club (GSA) hopes to raise awareness of these various gender identifications and sexual orientations.

The club operates on three fronts: providing a safe space for all, impacting the community, and educating themselves and others on different gender identities and sexual orientations. Senior President Sam Hengesbach and senior Vice President Eve Mefferd are proud to state that, created over 18 years ago, the GSA Club at CHS is the longest-lasting GSA Club in all of California.

“It’s interesting being a leader of this club because we are in charge of creating a social movement in our community; this is our responsibility,” Hengesbach said. “Who is going to get transgender-friendly policies for the school? Who is going to get the gender-neutral bathrooms? The faculty won’t do it by themselves until we get their attention because they don’t think that it is something that is on their agenda. This is our agenda, the gay agenda so to speak.”

The club’s primary goal is to give students a safe-haven where they are able to explore who they are, without the fear of being rebuked. The GSA Club works to raise awareness and fight for gender neutrality. Hengesbach believes this is one of the best years for GSA because many people from the community and have reached out to them in adulation and gratitude. GSA hopes to achieve the creation of gender-neutral bathrooms, the removal of genderization on standardized tests, and

hopes to educate more teachers on the use of pronouns in regards to gender neutrality.

“Essentially, it’s always going to be difficult to effect change, especially because there are so many projects worthy of effort, but I do think that we’ve made amazing progress so far,” Mefferd said.

Every day there is violence, both verbal and physical, against those who identify or orient themselves differently than what is expected in society. Hengesbach hopes to make being different more socially acceptable.

“There are so many bad things in the world and this is something that I can fight, [something that] I want to fight. Of course this is something that I am also affected by because I am transgender, and I am queer. It is affecting me, affecting my friends, affecting my entire community,” Hengesbach said. “Gender and sexuality are things that we all think about at some point, so I really want to create a change in this world because of that.”

Another reason many view the club as such an amazing place is because it is the little piece of happiness available to everyone, for both participants of and allies to the LGBT+ community. Hengesbach wants to eradicate the misconception of GSA being a ‘gay club’ and would appreciate if everyone used gender neutral pronouns or asked for preference.

“We are constantly bombarded by these labels, and we put these labels on ourselves as well. We call ourselves queer, or we call ourselves transgender, but we do not want to be entirely defined by these labels,” Hengesbach said.

Hengesbach and Mefferd have worked hard in their job of running the GSA club this year, promoting not only the club itself but also the message of what they are trying to achieve. The GSA Club is open to anyone and everyone and meetings are every Monday at lunch in room 707. With inspiring speeches and a push for change at the CHS, they have already begun to affect Claremont. Making a change in society can be difficult, but those involved with the GSA Club are taking it on one step at a time