GSA Activities—From local schools

From Kris Heiby at Woodson: “I'm not so up-to-date on my pop culture, but I happen to know many relatively recent American cultural loves, including TV shows, films, and musicians and musical shows, have included allusions to or blatant celebrations of lgbt rights. Particularly with regards to music, maybe a few small concerts or showings of the fence-sitters' favorite lgbt artistic performances will help introduce people who've maybe never come in contact with the subject of lgbt rights and tolerance to a closer source of humanity on the subject than Hollywood or New York City. Clubs could contribute or recruit performers and treat all who care to come to a free, necessarily high-quality show and some food. Maybe the acts could sandwich quick speeches or be organized into an entertaining and thought-provoking sequence.”

From Sharon Ulery at Thomas Jefferson:
 1. Train Wreck—Group sits in a circle, with leader in middle. Leader says “everone with (a particular attribute, such as Brown Eyes, or Wearing Blue Jeans). Each person with that attribute gets up and has a to take a vacated seat at tleast two places away. The person left standing is the new leader

2. Name Catch—Throw a ball, and you have to say your name and the name of the person you’re throwing to.
 
3. Intro game: Each person goes around, says their name and grade, and answers a question such as ‘Favorite Ice Cream.” One possible question is “Say something usual about yourself,” or “Say something you want us to remember about you.” More serious questions can be “What are you looking to get out of the GSA (or this conference)?”

4. Game we don’t know the name of: Everyone stands on one side of the room. Leader names an attribute; each person with that attribute goes to the other side of the room, we all look to see who is where, and then they return. Probably better when people know one another better. Start with innocuous attributes, then move to deeper ones.

5. Back Tag Activity—Each person gets a tag on their back, and they have to go around the room and ask people yes-or-no questions to find out what it says, or to find with whom they match. Takes a little planning, but a great ice-breaker.

Political Campaigning (from Sharon) Letter-writing campaigns, going to Richmond to lobby, phone-bank calling. Contact the Equality Organization in your city or county, or Equality Virginia or Maryland (in DC, perhaps the Gertrude Stein Club would be a good place to start

Education in the School

1. Meetings with faculty(need to schedule time at faculty meetings usually months in advance, but administrators are often open), meetings with departments (easier to schedule), about ending harassment, and about the concerns of LGBT youth in general. Be prepared with handouts and much information.

2. Hand out HRC stickers, or Rainbow Ribbons, etc. on crucial dates. Day of Silence and National Coming Out Day are important, but don’t forget the Transgender Day of Remembrance (googling will provide plenty of material on these.