Story by Bailey Hamilton
Last year West started a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) club. This year the club plans to do more around the school to get more students involved and interested in joining the club.
Senior Noah Lueth said, “The GSA club last year was-what I heard anyway-only in its fetal form. [Senior] Tanner [Ferrell] really wanted to make this and put it together. He’s the mastermind behind this. However, I found out about it this year through him.”
GSA is making steps towards becoming more known around school. Ferrell said, “We plan on being very active in the school this year. Friday the 10th, we are having a day of silence because National Coming Out day is Oct. 11. We plan on having meetings and doing charitable deeds in or to raise money for certain charities.”
To get involved in the club, “students have to attend one of the meetings. The meeting dates and times will be announced by intercom and posters will be hung throughout our school,” said Ferrell.
Over the past few years laws have been changing toward more recognition for marriage equality and equality for gay people.
Lueth said,”The biggest step was the Supreme Courts ruling letting the state choose what they want. For West, however, things are tough. Unfortunately we are here in the Bible belt,no offense to religious people. We are in a major religious playground where the parents like to train their kids on what they think is right. However, if you ask a little girl or boy what they think on it, they really don’t care. They believe if they want to love each other they should be able to.”
Ferrell thinks that being gay has became more accepted. “I think that people now see gay individuals for whom they are. People. No more. There’s nothing wrong or special about us, we just have different sexual preferences. I don’t get ridiculed that much, because people have realized that there is so much more to me than being gay. I feel like people like me for my personality more than my sexuality,” said Ferrell.
Lueth disagrees, “It’s pretty awful. Some days I would rather rub my face to a cheese grater than have to face the student population. I really have to tell myself to snap out of it. High school is such a infinitesimally small part of my life so fat that it won’t matter if you are gay, straight, asexual, black, white, green, or polka dotted!”
