By Steven Adamo
The Gender-Sexuality Alliance club is focused on being an open forum for all students to discuss LGBTQIA+ issues and connect with each other on campus.
Marcel Morales, chair of social sciences, will attend next week’s meeting to talk with the club’s students on a variety of issues.
Morales will cover topics that range from sexual health and awareness, to questions relating to identity. The topics were chosen by students during the club meeting last week.
Films shown in class are also discussed and chosen at the meetings.
During last week’s club meeting, the students watched a documentary about gender-conforming parents with non-gender-conforming children.
Club adviser Fernando Mejia has been a part of the East Los Angeles College GSA club since the beginning, back in 2017.
“It was quite successful for a couple of years, but then of course, the pandemic hit,” Mejia said.
“It went underground. It was very difficult to get students involved on Zoom.”
However, now Mejia and students are nearly back on campus full-time, the club is back in motion. “This is the group of wonderful students we have… it has to be face-to-face,” Mejia said.
“This is an open group, It’s not only for LGBTQIA, but also allies. If they’re looking for a home, here it is,” Mejia said.
According to club member and business administration major, David, the club is a nice place to go to.
He said even though other schools have GSA clubs, from his experience, they haven’t been as active as the one at ELAC.
The group briefly discussed their upcoming Christmas party. One student and club member, named Sebastian offered some of his hand-drawn illustrations as possible poster artwork. Sebastian had a couple of examples of his work to share, including pride versions of comic book superheroes.
Mejia and the club are currently working on a collaboration with the ELAC LGBTQ+ Pride Center.
“The plan is to offer our first history of the United States of the LGBTQIA community,” Mejia said.
Once the course is UC-Certified, it’ll be offered during the Spring 2023 semester in conjunction with the LGBTQ+ Pride Center.
“Of course, the club would be connected to that as well,” Mejia said.
Students interested in attending a future club meeting of the ELAC Gender and Sexuality Alliance, meetings are every Tuesday from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at F7-203. Students can connect with the group on Instagram @ELACGSA_ and on Snapchat @GSAPride_ELAC.