Students reboot Gay-Straight Alliance

By Melinda de L’Eveille

After being inactive for three years, the St. Clair College GSA is starting back up.

“GSA is somewhere that you can go,” said Eri Spotton, President of the new GSA. “It’s trusted people, it’s people that you can relate to and be able to have experiences with,”

Spotton mentioned their previous experience running a GSA at Belle River Highschool influenced their decision to get involved in rebooting the club.

“We did more events and everything to make it a more accepting school than it was – since it was a county school,” they said.“We will be able to see a bigger turnout, once we start being able to do events and being able to get out the message to more people.”

St. Clair’s first GSA was founded in 2014 by Mikael Mosley after his boyfriend committed suicide.

Mikael had been working at the Windsor Pride Community Resource and Education Centre, to run a weekly program called School’s Out! which provided support to students in the absence of a GSA.

Sean Frame, the original Vice President of the GSA, first met Mosley while volunteering at that same School’s Out! program. It was here where he and Mosley made plans to start a GSA at St. Clair College.

“During that time the statistics showed that suicide attempts in LGBTQ+ youth were much higher than that of straight youth and we wanted to provide a safe space where we could spread awareness and build a community for these youths,” said Frame.

Frame elaborated, explaining that he believes GSAs should be everywhere in schools, as they provide 2SLGBTQIA+ students with a safe space.

“It’s important for all schools to have a GSA,” said Frame. “There are several organizations in schools that allow youth to build community. Every individual should have a space where they not only feel safe, but they are able to express themselves, bring about social change and raise awareness.”

Athena Leclerc, an executive of the school’s esports club and member of the newly formed GSA, agreed and added she hopes to see even more actions from the college to provide resources to 2SLGBTQIA+ students.

“I definitely think that there is more, that could be done – definitely think that they could be putting more effort into giving students more of an opportunity to have help,” she said. “I mean, I’ve got fellow trans students in my classes, who definitely could have used the resources,”

Leclerc mentions her experience at St. Clair College, and the lack of resources available to her when she first came to the school.

“It’s kind of rough. Not knowing what you have available to you.”

Leclerc encouraged students at the college to get involved with the new GSA, stating that she is optimistic about the club’s direction.

“I think it’s a great base for community and I think that they’ve got a lot that’s going right for them, and I think that it could definitely grow in the future.”

Katie Ouellette, the Clubs & Volunteer Coordinator at the SRC, looks forward to supporting the new GSA.

“I have been getting the word out there to students to gain interest in starting this club,” Ouellette said. “And have been fortunate enough to find several student leaders willing to take on executive roles and a good group of community members & allies to support it.”

“The SRC has always seen the value in supporting the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, its allies and educating the St. Clair college population at large regardless of whether a GSA exists on campus,” she added. “As a result, the SRC has an excellent working relationship with Windsor Pride and Trans Wellness and utilizes their expertise to assist us with continuous education and inclusivity on campus.”

The GSA’s next meeting will be held Oct. 28, 2022.