Queer Straight Alliance: a safe space for all
TSC 313 is covered in heart stickers, group photos, signs with various words of encouragement and a surprising amount of photos featuring Christopher Walken. A sign on the wall says, “We are all a part of something bigger”.
The welcoming aura of the LGBTQIA+ and Allies Lounge is felt immediately upon entering the room. Filtering into the waiting room are voices of the Queer Straight Alliance Council, having their weekly meeting.
QSA president X Cazier is a sophomore at Utah State University.
“QSA is the umbrella queer club here on campus,” public relations manager Cristina Chirvasa said. “We mostly exist to provide queer students and allies a safe space on campus because I know sometimes the general culture isn’t the most welcoming. Sometimes people don’t feel totally comfortable outside of this space.”
As a way to connect the university community, the club hosted a prom for students on campus.
The Queer(ish) prom was held on April 22 from 5-8 p.m. in the Lundstrom Student Center on campus. It is a free event and all are welcome to attend. The theme is “Out of This World.”
“There’s been lots of behind the scenes stuff,” Chirvasa said. “I sent out a call on Instagram for people to help and volunteer in whatever capacity they want. So I’ve been communicating with those people and throwing out ideas and talking about logistics for the event itself. It hasn’t just been a council effort but pretty much any student who wants to help out has been able to say in what they want.”
QSA holds weekly events geared toward supporting the community, providing resources, service and advocacy work as well.
“Advocacy work is something we are hoping to expand on in the coming year because we haven’t had a chance to do much of it,” she said. “We also try to do at least one service project a month to contribute to our general community, and service is a great way for us to uplift our own community and show that we are a part of the general Cache Valley community as well.”
The club has had a few different names throughout the years including Love is for Everyone and Allies on Campus.
“We’ve been the same club, just rebranded a few times since the early 2000s,” Chirvasa said.
Currently, the council is made up of three people, though generally there are five leaders. The club is in the process of interviewing for those open positions.
The council meets once a week and the club holds two to three events a week. Participation varies from event to event, but the club has about 20 consistent members. If it’s a more niche topic, like drag workshops, they tend to be a bit smaller, usually with two to ten people in attendance.
“It’s nice because it’s good to focus on individuals during those events. Some of our other events will have like 50 people, so it can get really big,” Cazier said.
Some events require collaboration with other clubs on campus.
“Rainbows and Religion was an event we had a couple weeks ago,” Chirvasa said. “There were around 70 people there. That was one where we collaborated with another club on campus so there was some crossover between club members there. The upcoming queer prom is going to be pretty huge, I think.”
The council members said their involvement with organizing the prom but also QSA itself has impacted them in various ways.
“I was already pretty comfortable with my identity and I think going into it, it’s helped me feel more comfortable with leadership,” Cazier said. “Being promoted to president and getting more familiar with our members and the needs within the community, especially with all the different intersectionalities, was something I came in wanting to address, but turned out to be a bigger problem that we are continuing to do a lot of work for.”
Chirvasa explained since her involvement with QSA, she is more comfortable with an unlabeled identity.
“Being involved with QSA has made me more comfortable in my own identity, which is unlabeled. It made me comfortable in my confusion,” Chirvasa said. “Before, I wasn’t in the closet but I also wasn’t fully out. Before actually being a leader in QSA, I didn’t want to come to any QSA events because I was scared. If the queer community rejects me, what are my options, you know? So I was scared to show up as a member, so having this leadership position helped me to actually find the queer community and find my place within it.”