Aiming to tackle adolescent bullying from a new and untested angle, the Bromfield School’s Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) is hosting its first ever “Born This Way Day” at the Bromfield School on an upcoming Friday this May. Members of the group hope this event will encourage discussion and promote greater acceptance of differences among students.
Since its start, the club has focused on supporting and speaking out for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youths, but today its mission encompasses anti-bullying efforts as well.
In the weeks leading up to Born This Way Day, GSA members will be selling plain white T-shirts. Students will be encouraged to name or describe an insecurity on its front-facing side, which has been left blank. On the day of the event, students will wear their T-shirts to school, demonstrating that each individual is unique and that the concept of a “status quo” is invalid.
Many programs today focus on defining bullying and teaching kids strategies to help them deal with bullies. However, Born This Way Day takes a different approach, personalizing the problem by showing students that everyone has vulnerabilities. Instead of addressing the issue in a classroom lesson, Born This Way Day aims to strike at the heart of bullying by fostering understanding through the acceptance of differences.
Unofficial GSA Vice President Ashton Morgan believes that Born This Way Day has the potential not only to promote tolerance, but also to connect students in ways that can benefit individuals as well as the school. Morgan explains, “You write an insecurity on your shirt and it says ‘PTSD,’ and then you are walking down the halls and you see someone else with [the same word] on their shirt. Just seeing that lets you know that you aren’t alone in the world, the one thing that most teenagers think.”
Born This Way Day will be the second of two school-wide events that the GSA has hosted in recent years. The first was in 2009, when the GSA organized a “Day of Silence” in which students silently protested the suppression of LGBTQ youth.
The club was founded in the spring of 1996. Attendance varies from meeting to meeting and year to year. Some students never miss a meeting; others express their continued support and enthusiasm for the club but rarely show up to scheduled gatherings. Currently, there are about 20 students who associate themselves with the group. GSAs can adopt a variety of roles, ranging from support groups to social circles to active advocacy organizations. The name “Gay Straight Alliance” has evolved to become a universal term for clubs dedicated to protecting and advocating for members of the LGBTQ community. The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network connects registered high school GSAs across the country, providing educational opportunities for advisors and students alike.
Two freshman girls started Bromfield’s GSA in response to harassment at school. One girl was lesbian, the other bisexual. During the ninth-grade class trip to Washington, D.C., many of their classmates refused to room with the girls because of their sexual orientations. The D.C. trip was ultimately the trigger that led to the establishment of the Bromfield GSA. According to current faculty advisor Kathleen Doherty, “These two girls spoke to the entire faculty about their experience in this school…about not feeling safe, not feeling welcomed, and not feeling accepted, and explained why they wanted a GSA.”
Doherty has witnessed the ebb and flow of GSA participation. There have been years when the club has not attracted much interest, and it is in such years that Doherty wonders if the Bromfield GSA is coming to an end. However, looking back, Doherty says this notion has been repeatedly proven wrong by GSA devotees: “There’ll be times when I think to myself, ‘You know what, maybe the GSA has run its course,’ and just as I think that’s going to happen, we get a group of kids who are out to save the world.”
GSA Vice President Morgan’s personal history with the club is a sad yet incredibly uplifting one. It was a close friend that ultimately inspired him to join the group. Morgan reflects, “He was my inspiration for joining… he helped me figure [out] who I am and helped me and supported me.” Two years ago, his friend took his own life, and Morgan decided to join the GSA. “I did it for myself, but I also did it for him,” he explains. Ever since, Morgan has played an instrumental role in defining the mission of the GSA and making that mission a reality. Morgan envisions a future Bromfield as “a knowledgeable, understanding, and supportive school for any LGBTQ youth who dare to come out during their high school years.”
Lily Moore-Eissenberg is a freshman at the Bromfield School.
