Coexist: Striving to achieve acceptance, not just tolerance for LGBTQ+

The Coexist club’s Tumblr blog, titled “GSA of Saratoga” in bold red, is filled with educational and supportive posts for the LGBTQ+ community. “P is for Pansexual,” the image of a green poster reads, accompanied by a description of the word “pansexual” and images of similar posters like “T is for Trans.” Another photo features someone holding up a sign that reads, “Gender non-conforming, still human.”

Coexist: Gay-Straight Alliance, which has about 15 regular club members, meets every other Thursday with adviser Amy Keys in room 006. The club welcomes everyone and aims to provide a safe haven for queer people at school, raise awareness in the community and contribute to the global civil rights movement for LGBTQ+.

During some meetings, Coexist discusses current events in the LGBTQ+ community, such as the proposed legislation of Leelah’s Law, which would ban transgender conversion therapy for minors. The club’s fundraisers are often related to these events and raise awareness at school about different issues. For instance, one planned fundraiser will raise money for an organization that supports transgenders, in light of the suicide of Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teen from Ohio who posted a suicide note on Tumblr that called attention to issues affecting transgender people.

The club also educates members by screening LGBTQ+ movies and giving presentations on different sexualities. Outside of club meetings, officers also share interesting links on the club’s Facebook and Tumblr pages for members to browse.

Coexist was founded last spring by senior Matthew Nobles, the club president, and several of his friends. Though there was previously a Gay-Straight Alliance at the school, it disappeared because of lagging membership.

Nobles realized that he wanted to support and guide queer people after struggling to accept his identity as gay.

“You know you’re different, but you don’t really know how you’re different, so you kind of just have to look within yourself to realize that you may or may not be the [way] you thought you are,” Nobles said.

Nobles originally believed he was bisexual because “it seemed a little more tame” than being gay. After years of self-examination, however, he realized that he “had just kind of been making that up for [his] own purposes.” As a result of this social pressure and other factors, Nobles did not begin coming to terms with his sexuality until late in his sophomore year.

“I found that it was very difficult to come to terms with my sexuality without any support from anyone at the school,” he said. “Since I didn’t have that support, I wanted to provide it for someone else and make it easier for people who may be struggling with their sexuality to accept themselves.”

Senior Claire Strickland, the club’s event coordinator and one of its founders, also feels a personal connection to the club because a close friend had difficulty coming out.

“Even not being in her position was difficult because I could recognize that it’s very unfair that people should have to feel inferior in their own skin just because of the prejudice that other people have against them,” Strickland said. “She was a friend that was suffering because of her family’s inability to accept her and who she was.”

The inspiration for Coexist began after the founders noticed students tossing around words like “faggot” in the hallways. Though the word was not spoken in a derogatory way, the founders agreed that the word’s connotation needed to change.

According to Strickland, they began to think about the school’s attitude toward the LGBTQ+ community and decided that they wanted to “initiate some sort of difference at Saratoga, even if [they] were going to graduate in a year.”

Nobles added that some individuals in the Saratoga community avoid actively supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

“Though [the Saratoga community] is accepting to a degree, it also teaches members of the [LGBTQ+] community that who they are is not necessarily a desirable trait,” Nobles said. “I think that’s a really unhealthy culture to be living in, especially when [queer people are] trying to sort all of this stuff out on their own.”

The club has learned how to be more effective by attending youth summits. In December, several club members attended a summit in San Francisco, where they participated in workshops and met other Gay-Straight Alliances.

Nobles was surprised to learn that some schools in the Bay Area had to hold Gay-Straight Alliance meetings in secrecy due to the administrations’ disapproval of the clubs.

Coexist is working to organize a potluck with Gay-Straight Alliances from other schools, including Castilleja, Notre Dame and Los Gatos High. Through the bond formed from this social event, Coexist hopes to accomplish a larger project, such as creating an organization or holding an event or fundraiser.

“[Ultimately,] we feel like our goal should be to raise this sort of awareness, especially in Saratoga, and make a difference in the little area that we know and can have an impact on,” Strickland said, “and through that awareness allow other people to take initiative and improve the community on their own.”