GSA about rights, not politics

School NEWS

GSA about rights, not politics

In recent years society in general has become more inclusive of sexual and gender diversity, and Selwyn House is no exception to this trend. A few Old Boys have contacted Selwyn House to express their support for observed changes in attitudes toward sexual orientation at the school.

The single most visible example of this change occurred three years ago with the formation of the Selwyn House Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), a facultyled initiative that was immediately and enthusiastically embraced by the students.

The GSA’s mission is to educate people, promote inclusiveness and celebrate diversity. They do this by holding events such as video competitions to raise awareness, or an international food fair to promote inclusiveness by celebrating cultural diversity.

“The main goal of the GSA, in a sense, is to realize the school motto: VERITAS, points out Senior French and history teacher Marie-Eve Theriault, faculty advisor to the Selwyn House GSA. “We encourage students—and anyone in the Selwyn community—to be true to themselves. And we try to provide them with an environment where this is possible.

“In a way, it doesn’t have much to do with gender in sexuality—you could take those aspects away and the GSA could still have the same main goals. We want a community where everyone can strive to be their true selves and feel happy and confident doing it.

“Every year since the creation of the GSA, we have seen students come out to their peers—often in a very public manner—and receive overwhelming support.

“I’d like to think the presence of the GSA let them know that people at Selwyn ‘had their back.’ Definitely, since 2013 I have noticed a decline in the use of insensitive language related to gender and sexuality.”

Apart from sexual orientation, gender identification controversies have flared up in public schools, notably in the United States, where President Obama waded into the fray with a directive to schools to establish gender-neutral washrooms.

“The day may come when we [at Selwyn House] may receive a request from a student who identifies as female to use either the female staff washroom or to have a dedicated washroom,” says Mme Theriault. “At that point, we as a community will have to come together to address that need. “A more basic issue that would likely emerge first, I believe, is how Admissions would react to an applicant who is biologically male but identifies as female. Does that student have a place at Selwyn House? If we claim to be an inclusive community, I don’t see how we could not welcome that student. As a community, we will probably have to address this issue sooner than we think.” Marie-Eve Theriault It’s a controversial issue, to be sure, but the GSA takes a positive approach, Mme Theriault says. “The GSA tries to help people without impeding on the rights of others. Some might be against it, but it is easy to continue one’s Selwyn House experience as before and not attend GSA meetings or events. I don’t think anyone would describe our approach as aggressive or invasive. We are here as an added support to the community and we make the community aware of which injustices will not be tolerated. We’re about rights, not politics.” One Old Boy from the 1980s contacted Mme Theriault in support, saying that having a GSA in his days at Selwyn House might have changed his life. “As much as he appreciated the school, his days at Selwyn

“How would Admissions react to House—which for him were tarnished by bullying from both an applicant who is biologically male but identifies as female? students and staff—were sometimes quite dark. He wishes he could have felt like there was more support for him. He believes in the GSA so much that he even offered a generous

Does that student have a place at donation to help us finance our efforts.” Selwyn House?” Another Old Boy told her that having a GSA might have convinced him to stay and finish his career at Selwyn House, which he in the end didn’t feel comfortable enough to do. “Imposing rigid and traditional interpretations of manhood on our students is very dangerous,” says Mme Theriault. “It would show that we do not, in fact, really understand boys. “Sometimes, a criticism we receive is that we should keep politics out of schools. It has always been hard for me to see LGBTQ issues as political issues. To me, they are a respect issue, but more importantly, a human rights issue—the very issues we want our students to engage with if they are to be responsible and informed citizens of the world."