Last week was an eventful one for the Gay-Straight Alliance which hosted “Ally Week” at MSMS. Ally Week is dedicated to celebrating those who are not a part of the LGBT community but still show their support for it.

Ally Week kicked off on Monday with students signing their names to name tags, symbolizing their commitment to treat members of the LGBT community as equals. On Wednesday, the Gay-Straight Alliance continued with their outreach to the MSMS community by hosting a wellness seminar educating students on the differences between sexual and romantic orientation as well as the different types of sexuality.

“It was a packed house,” said West Givens, president of the Gay-Straight Alliance. “There weren’t enough seats; people were standing and sitting on the floor, there were so many people. Sarah McClendon, the vice president, and Connor McNamee, the treasurer, hosted the seminar to inform students on all the different kinds of sexualities and what each type means. And, that’s really important because it can get confusing with all the different kinds of sexualities and what each type means,” he explained.
More than 80 students attended. One junior student, Lewis Park, learned a lot from the seminar on Wednesday.

“I thought it was a great experience, I didn’t realize there were so many sexualities. I also liked the unique flags,” said Park.

On Thursday, the club showed the documentary “Bullied” about a student, Jacob Nabozny, who was bullied at his high school for his homosexuality.

“I think the documentary is very important at showing the need for allies in school settings and education about sexuality in general,” said Anna Creel, secretary for the Gay-Straight Alliance. “We try to make MSMS a safe place for all people in the LGBT-plus umbrella by encouraging people to be allies and educating others on what it really means to be an ally. We probably wouldn’t be able to do so without the efforts of Nabozny, which is pretty amazing.”

The week ended with students showing their support by wearing as many colors of the rainbow as possible. The Gay-Straight Alliance meets each Wednesday and is planning future solidarity events for the future.