GSA Con

On November 4, Iowa’s safe schools hosted GSA Con, GSAs (Gender-Sexuality-Alliance) across Iowa are coming together for GSA Con which includes engaging activities and workshops.

GSACon is just one of many events Iowa Safe Schools hosts every year, and is held at the beginning of fall every school year to bring together GSAs across Iowa.  “Students have the opportunity to celebrate the diversity of the LGBTQ community,” states Iowa Safe Schools. Another great aspect of GSACon is that it is free for all students to participate in the conference.

“GSACon in my opinion is a really important event for community building purposes and for connectivity between different queer communities and different schools,” said former Northwest GSA President Molly Campbell.

Not only is GSACon informational but can also introduce students to students from other schools. Students from other schools have their last names omitted for privacy reasons,

“It’s networking, you can meet people like I’m meeting you right now, ” said Gabie.

Activities are provided during the event such as informational workshops, snacks, food, drinks and pride flags. The workshops are very good for spreading awareness and opportunities to the students attending such as getting grants or information on new laws that are being implemented. 

Iowa laws are constantly changing and new laws are being created, some of these laws can be hurtful to the LGBTQ+ community. In an informational workshop hosted by Damian Thompson topics, such as regulations, were discussed to spread awareness to students to better understand the rapidly changing laws being enforced in Iowa.

“The impact on student social-emotional health is extremely detrimental,” said Iowa Safe Schools Director of External Affairs Damian Thompson.

On a better note, many GSAs are enjoying GSACon and think it is important to continue events like these and many students have a say in this.

“I think it important to sort of bring us all together and realize that we all have a common goal in trying to make queer people more accepted,” said Ankeny GSA Council member Xavier. 

Hosting events like GSACon gives students the opportunity to collaborate and share valuable ideas with each other, whether that be allowing the LGBTQ+  community to be more accepted into society to any and all ideas students have.

‘’I think [GSACon is] awesome so far,” said Charles. Many students who attended GSACon enjoyed the experience.