GSA Actions & Events

Organizing actions and events is key to having a successful Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club! Actions and events raise visibility for your club, increase member participation, build a sense of excitement around your GSA, and can help improve the climate for LGBTQ youth at your school.

In this section, you’ll learn to strategically plan actions and events that will strengthen your GSA and change your community.

Getting Started

Start by learning the basics of Developing a Strategy [1], using a Strategy Chart, and Planning Events [2]. Then read about tons of specific actions and events your GSA club can do. Print out these resources and discuss them at your next GSA meeting!

For any Action or Event, it is important to be prepared and have a well thought out and planned event. Use these resources to make sure your actions and events are as powerful as they can be!

Actions and Events – What’s the difference?

An EVENT is an activity your GSA wants to do that is more than just a “meeting.” Events require planning and strategy. Events can be fun, social, supportive, educational, or serious. Check out Fun Things to Do [3] or learn how to put on Peer Education Workshops [4]. Or you may want to focus on improving your school climate by starting with Conducting a School Survey [5] or Making Your School a Hate-Free Zone [6].

An ACTION, or Day of Action, is a large-scale event that is designed to make a visible impact on your school or community. Actions often require more preparation time and even more strategy than events. We encourage all GSAs to take part in several days of action every year, including LGBT History Month [7] in October, Transgender Day of Remembrance [8] in November, GLSEN’s Day of Silence [9] in April, and Harvey Milk Day [10] in May.

GSA Network Events

Visit our Events page [11] to learn more about the events and actions that GSA Network organizes including conferences, trainings, advocacy days, and camps.