North Carolina ranks in top 20 states with most gay-straight alliances

The news is a little old, but I thought it was interesting to note a few things and to provide some commentary.

Back on July 2, 2007, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) put out a press release noting that the number of gay-straight student organizations registered with them had surpassed 3,500 across the nation. In the release, GLSEN included a list of the number of gay-straight alliances (GSAs) by state. North Carolina ranked number 20th, with 76 GSAs registered in the state.

It is interesting to note, for me at least, that the high number of GSAs in North Carolina has not always been. In 2000, when I started the gay-straight alliance at my high school, R.J. Reynolds in Winston-Salem, NC, there were only about eight other GSAs registered, or known to exist, around the state. The GSA at Reynolds High was only the second in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System (the first being started at West Forsyth High School).

In the past seven years, the number of North Carolina GSAs has grown by almost ten times the number it was back when I first started my LGBT activism and advocacy.

It is also interesting to note that many of the other states in the top 20 of GLSEN’s list tend to be more liberal or have more active and visible LGBT communities than that of ours in North Carolina. That we have many GSAs in our state, I think, says a lot about our youth and the future of North Carolina.

I just got back from spending two weeks in New York working on Soulforce Q’s Right to Marry Campaign. One thing that was apparent there was that the populous is easily trending more liberal, or, more accepting of LGBT people and our equality. I would not doubt for a second that the very same thing is true for the good Ole’ North State.

We have no constitutional amendment banning marriage equality and we have been as equally affective in getting more progressive legislation passed in the past few years. Just this session, in May 2007, our state House heard the first LGBT-inclusive, state-wide bill to ever pass at least one of the two bodies of our General Assembly.

I’m predicting it here and now…. In 20 years, LGBT equality will not be an issue for the majority of North Carolinians. Furthermore, in 20 years North Carolina will continue to be able to claim that we are among some of the most progressive Southern states, first in the Civil Rights Movement and, I hope, believe and pray, first in LGBT equality.

* Note: The comment regarding North Carolina being “first in the Civil Rights Movement” was meant only as being among the first states to make civil rights progression and gains in the South. Yes, I’m fully aware North Carolina has its fair share of bad history, but we certainly don’t have as much as other Southern states (at least, not that I’ve ever been aware of).

Posted in Civil Rights, High School, LGBT, LGBT Youth, North Carolina, Politics |