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Miranda Ramirez

At the biannual club rush, Celeste Sanfelippo, President of the Gay-Straight Alliance, promotes her club. GSA meets every Wed. in C-202 after school.

The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender + community at Downey High School keeps growing, as a new club named LGBT+ is not the only club, but there is also the previously established club named GSA [Gay Straight Alliance].

“I’m excited to see it [the clubs] grow,” Mrs. Gilfilan, GSA adviser, said. “It’s going to be a great year.”

The two clubs, GSA, and LGBT+ are similar because they both aim to build new relationships and get out of a typical classroom setting.

GSA has already planned and scheduled activities, events, and topics throughout the year, such as movie events revolved around LGBT topics, as they are a returning club.

“The quantity [of club members] doesn’t matter,0 the quality does,” GSA president, Celeste Sanfelippo, 11, said.

Even though the clubs revolve around the LGBT community, they are welcoming to straight and cis-gendered [people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth] people. Anyone is welcome to come and learn more about the community or offer support, as long as the club is a hate and bully free environment.

“You feel like you’re the only one in school that’s a kid in the community; this is the opportunity for you to meet other people from the community,” Steven Meyer, 11, LGBT+ president, said.

LGBT+’s main focus is to have a place in the community, for students to meet and not feel alone. During their last meeting on Thurs., Oct. 1, they had members share their coming out stories and struggles being in the community. Some did cry, but others around them were there with a welcoming hug.

“It’s hard not to get emotional,” Mr. Bradfield, the LGBT+ adviser, said. “ I think to have group like this the support is great.”

Since there are two clubs, normally there would be a rivalry, but both clubs are neutral with one another. The general attitude of the clubs is to not caring which club students go to, as long as they support LGBT instead of hate.

“It doesn’t matter if people want to be a part of any of the groups,” Mrs. Gilfilan said, “LGBT+, GSA, the more people get involved and understand and be respectful the better the world will be.”

GSA meets every last Monday of the month in room C-202 and LGBT+ meets every Thursday in room C-205.