Science, equality and motivation. All things Sharon Taysi lives by. Taysi is the faculty sponsor of the GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) club at KHS. It began ten years ago when a student and a fellow teacher approached Taysi telling her about their desire to get the school board to pass a non-discrimination clause, including sexual orientation and gender identity. Believing strongly in this, Taysi decided to attend the school board meeting and talked on the behalf of teachers and students.

“We do several different things during GSA meetings,” Taysi said. “Probably our two biggest events are ally week in the fall and the day of silence in the spring. We also spend meetings where we let people talk about their issues.”

Though times may be changing, there is still not quite the amount of respect at KHS Taysi longs for. The President of GSA, Kendra Cross, senior, has been a part of the club for four years. Coming into her freshman year, Cross had been waiting to be a part of the club since middle school. But the road was not smooth the whole way to high school because coming out as a lesbian created a few potholes for Cross.

“My moms have sort of kept me away from [getting bullied],” Cross said. “I’ve had a few incidences with it, but I’m fortunate enough to have not had more.”

GSA allows members to feel comfortable in their own skin and to meet others that might be feeling the same way as them according to Cross. She likes to attend events such as GSA conferences, which help her befriend dozens of people. The club itself also brings members closer together according to Leslie Riggs, sophomore and treasurer of GSA.

“My favorite experience [in GSA] was getting to see the movie Rent for the first time with all my friends and singing along to the first song ‘Seasons of Love’,” Riggs said.

Taysi said GSA has affected her life by enabling her to put herself in the kids’ shoes and by hopefully affecting the kids’ lives in positive ways, but she still wonders what the kids experience throughout the regular school day.

“Is it truly better? I don’t know because I’m not out there. I don’t think the harassment happens all the time where people can see it. I think there are people who harass people that think they can get away with it,” Taysi said. “But unfortunately I don’t think a policy is going to change people’s views.”

Discrimination doesn’t just happen at KHS. It happens everywhere, according to Taysi. At work, school, home, even in public. Taysi said adults struggle with the same types of issues such as bullying and harassment in their everyday lives.

“I have two really close friends, two women who are partners, and they cannot marry,” Taysi said. “I love them very much and I care about them very much for their cause. That’s what motivates me.”