What a powerful story! I’m so sorry you had to go through that.

According to data, GSAs make an enormous difference in schools. When GSAs are active, bullying is seen to go down for all students, especially for LGBTQ students, of course.

The general decrease is something that people didn’t expect to see until they started measuring it. It’s an interesting effect!

BTW, from a legal standpoint, if a school offers any clubs at all, they must allow a GSA to meet.

Sadly, many schools are pretty artful about getting around that requirement. One tactic some schools have used is to require students to get permission from a parent to join any club.

This could obviously have a damping effect on a GSA. Both the ACLU and the SPLC have successfully challenged requirements like this in court.

GLSEN has a lot of resources for students who are having problems and who want to start a GSA.