Between 4% and 10% of the population is gay, according to PFLAG NYC. This means that out of the approximately 1,400 students at Milford High School, there are 56-140 students that don’t identify themselves as straight. However, that does not mean that they’re gay, either. There is a wide spectrum of sexualities and genders, the most popular being lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans* (LGBT). Many people, though, do not know or understand what this means.

The QSA, or Queer Straight Alliance, has been started to help raise awareness of LGBTQ* youth and educate, as well as show support for students who identify as “not straight.” The club’s purpose is education, awareness, and support. There have been many concerns about the use of the word queer in the club’s title (mainly “isn’t that offensive?”), that have arisen. “We use QSA rather than GSA because queer is inclusive of every sexual orientation/gender identity other than straight, whereas gay-straight alliance is very specific to that one sexuality,” says Vice President Oliver Cox, a senior at MHS.

Although queer has been used as a slur for many years, it has been reclaimed recently by those who do identify as queer or nonbinary.  According to the Gender Equity Research Center, it’s an umbrella term for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. “

Despite this, the school authorities do not want the term used on official club announcements and posters. “That feeling when you can’t say queer on the morning announcements because it might offend people, but your whole club goal is to educate people about misconceptions involving LGBT+,” Harmony Groom, a senior, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, following the first meeting of the QSA on Monday.

When asked why she agreed to sponsor the club, Megan Osborn said, “I can’t say I relate, because I’m a heterosexual woman, but I have a lot of friends who are either gay or lesbian, so I feel like there should be a safe place for [queer students] to go, and to have support where they do.”

President Chloe Gerathy, another senior, has been “out of the closet” for two years. In response to negativity she has encountered about her sexuality, Gerathy said “it’s not so much large scale, it’s more micro-aggressions, these small things that happen that just build and build and build.

“I hear a lot more transphobia, because they don’t know that it’s transphobic,” she says, “just getting the language confused about crossdressing and the word tranny and not knowing that it’s offensive. It’s something that I think Milford’s new QSA will be awesome at raising awareness for, because I don’t think people want to be offensive or ignorant; people want to learn.”

She explained that it wasn’t the intention of the club to fight and yell at people, but to educate. “You just have to be really nurturing and not accusatory or else they’ll just shut down and won’t want to learn.”

Gerathy has been going to a support group in Ann Arbor for the better part of two years. She’s a part of Riot Youth, an activism group. “We have Gayrilla (Guerilla warfare), which is performance art, like stories that we’ve heard. And we do our climate survey so there’s a lot of activism, but here it seems like it’s going to be a lot of educating our school, and not so much our town.” She’s been working on multiple projects about and for LGBTQ* youths, including an inclusive sex ed program for safe sex for all orientations, queer or straight, and focuses on sex and gender.

The Milford High School Queer Straight Alliance also wants to educate students on the difference between sex and gender, and the different sexualities and genders. Cox, whose legal name is Morgan Cox, prefers the name Oliver, or Ollie, and would rather be referred to as “they/them” pronouns. “If you’re gonna goof on my pronouns, please use he/him because she/her pronouns give me horrible dysphoria.” Gender dysphoria is summarized as discontent with the sex they were assigned at birth and/or the gender roles associated with that sex. Cox was born a female, but is genderfluid (not to be confused with transsexual or transgender; see club for details) and feels more masculine than feminine most days. “I realized a couple years ago that most days I didn’t feel entirely comfortable in my body and it would cause me severe dysphoria when I was feeling masculine while stuck in a female body. It took a long time to figure myself out, because I didn’t have any guidance.” Cox expressed their hope that the club could help students like them.

“I’ve been wanting a QSA at this school for years, and now we finally have one. I’m just hoping that the club will help future generations of students and become a safe haven for them.”