Despite five years of success at USF St. Petersburg, the Gay Straight Alliance is having troubles with leadership. The structure of the club is beginning to crumble. The president, Nicole Cate, has not officially resigned yet, but plans to.
“I went into spring semester with too many things on my plate and unfortunately GSA is one of the things I neglected,” she said. “I failed to realize how difficult the year would be when I ran for officership.”
Sean Erickson, a long term and highly involved member of GSA, says that things are still being figured out and, “it’s likely that a new set of officers will come in.” This poses the question of what will to happen with the current GSA leaders.
Another member of the GSA, Franklin Alves, has a positive attitude about cleaning up the club and setting it back on track, but already has a large time commitment with the USFSP Longboarding Club.
Alves commented on the lack of success of the GSA, saying, “No one showed up for the MLK parade (held on Jan. 21). It was obvious it was on a downward trend.”
In addition to the resignation of its president, GSA recently cancelled a trip to a gay rights conference in Miami, which members had been looking forward to. The club failed to submit a request for Student Government funding in time for the trip.
The fourth annual drag show was almost canceled for the same reason, but Alves said he is going to make it happen. The show will now take place on April 19 and will not be run solely by GSA.
“Once people heard the drag show was not going to occur, people from all over stood up and came together to make sure it would,” Alves said. “In times of need, USFSP Bulls come together.”
GSA, which has existed at the school since 2006 and worldwide since 1998, aims to empower youth activists to fight homophobia and transphobia, according to the official GSA website.
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