GSA club educates students about transgender awareness

The LGBTQ+ community holds a big presence at San Dieguito Academy. The acceptance of different sexual orientations and gender identifications has been normalized by our school’s community’s work, much to the gratification of our students.

Yet, there are always places to be improved that shouldn’t be overlooked.

The “gay-straight alliance” or GSA club president Tea Wagstaff explains that these dismissals “prevent us from seeing the genuine faults in our school’s culture and environment.” In particular, there are many improvements to be made for SDA’s transgender community. 

To push for a more inclusive community, there’s a multitude of things that can be improved by students. Simple education goes a long way in understanding how to create a better environment for our transgender peers.

Unbeknownst to many, Transgender Awareness Week is celebrated every Nov. 13-20.  It encourages acceptance and the recognition of victims of transphobic violence. Unfortunately, there’s not enough positive representation for trans people in media and politics, making it hard for many to empathize and understand what it means to be transgender. 

“The more cisgender people begin to see trans people as real human beings, the easier it is to start conversions about how to make life easier for trans people,” Wagstaff said. 

How can cisgender (those who identify with their birth sex) students help? “Simply asking what somebody’s pronouns are when introducing yourself can go a long way,” said GSA club member Tain Baptista. “If you don’t know, just ask,” Wagstaff adds.

Regardless of some great attempts to make SDA more inclusive, our school itself needs to make adjustments. For example, there are only a few gender-neutral bathrooms on campus.

Students should not be punished for “having to deal with the everyday indignities of living within a system that is not built for [them],”  said Wagstaff. We pride ourselves on being a great example of an accepting school. How can we claim this without acknowledging the fact that our trans and nonbinary students are in a constant struggle to live comfortably?

As a community, we must fight for our trans peers’ acceptance and encourage our school to improve. Anything from the correct use of pronouns to implementing more gender-neutral bathrooms will be a tremendous effort of support for the students in our community who do not deserve to be limited by any means.

If you’d like to join the SDA’s GSA Club, they meet every Monday at 1:50 pm on Google Meets.