Earlier this month, Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced legislation that would require parental permission for Alaska students to participate in school clubs related to gender and sexuality.
In Juneau, two such clubs are open to middle schoolers. They’re both called the Alliance, like other Gender and Sexuality Alliance clubs across the country. At one meeting last week, students told KTOO what the group means to them.
“[It’s] a place where you can be yourself,” said one student, who asked not to be identified in this story. KTOO agreed to not use club members’ names in order to protect their privacy.
“My mom is against LGBTQ,” the student said. “So I can’t really be myself around her because she doesn’t like that stuff. I’ve been coming here for around four months. And I think I really like this place.”
Oliver Sheufelt, an adult facilitator with the Alliance, says clubs like the Alliance are necessary because kids may not have other LGBTQ+ family members or support.
“That sort of community isn’t really baked in for these kids. We really have to intentionally create that,” they said. “And these kids often have to seek it out. But these are really life-altering, life-saving spaces.”
When they say life-saving, it’s not an exaggeration. The Trevor Project reported last year that 45% of LGBTQ youth in Alaska seriously considered suicide in the past year, and 64% of LGBTQ youth in Alaska lacked access mental health care they wanted. One of the top reasons was that they didn’t want to ask their parents for permission.
Another student in the Alliance said they are out to their mom but not their dad, and if they had to get permission from him, they may not be able to come anymore.
“My mom, it wouldn’t be a problem. She knows about me being transgender, but my father doesn’t. And that would cause problems,” they said.
For now, they tell their dad that they go to a homework club after school.
Some of the youth said their parents were supportive of their identities and know they go to the Alliance group. But the group is still special because they can be around other youth who share their identities.
For others, the group offers support while they think about how to talk to their families about who they are.
“I kind of want to tell them that I’m bisexual,” said one student. “It’s kind of hard to tell them, though. Itʼs scary.”
The Alliance meets weekly at Floyd Dryden and Dzantik’i Heeni middle schools. The Zach Gordon Youth Center has a weekly group for LGBTQ+ teens each Thursday. The groups are open to any student on a drop-in basis.