An effort to bring students of all sexualities together has generated concern among members of a well-established student group.

The Gay Straight Student Alliance, a new student organization that received recognition by the Student Association Oct. 26, is causing some mild controversy in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center.

The goal of GSSA is to reach out to the university community to raise awareness of issues between LGBT and heterosexual students, said Stephen de Jony, president of GSSA and a senior history major.

‘I thought there was a need for another group on campus that could reach out more directly to the larger community on campus to get people involved,’ de Jony said.

The student organization, according to de Jony, has approximately 20 members so far, although they plan on expanding membership in the future. The organization has so far only met twice.

Pride Union, though, is a similar pre-existing organization that provides education and social programming to the Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry community about LGBT concerns.

James Kaechele, president of Pride Union and a SUNY ESF junior majoring in environmental and forest biology, is worried that GSSA and Pride Union are too similar.

‘I think that part of what (de Jony) is trying to accomplish is already things that the Pride Union is accomplishing or is working toward accomplishing,’ Kaechele said. ‘We’re trying to find where we have common ground and make sure that we’re working together instead of diluting the same effort.’

Amit Taneja, the official adviser to GSSA and residence director of Day Hall, agrees that the two organizations are alike; however, he thinks that GSSA still fulfills a worthwhile function.

‘(GSSA) is really not that different from Pride Union, but it provides one more avenue for gay and straight students to come forward for the awareness and education that needs to happen on campus around LGBT issues,’ Taneja said. ‘The differences are minimal at best between Pride Union and the GSSA because in the end both of the organizations are working toward the same goal.’

Kaechele is also concerned that the formation of GSSA implies that Pride Union does not welcome heterosexual allies. Kaechele has made a point of reaching out to heterosexual allies in Pride Union during his presidency, Kaechele said.

‘Pride Union is an organization for all students,’ Kaechele said. ‘At no point do we intend to or want to be exclusive to queer people. Certainly allies are more than welcome and always have been.’

According to Taneja, Pride Union has successfully established a safe space for LGBT people, but straight allies may feel intrusive.

‘The GSSA will help straight allies come out of the closet as straight allies,’ Taneja said.

Neither Taneja nor de Jony wants to compete with the Pride Union’s efforts.

‘We encourage GSSA members to go to Pride Union events and to participate in Pride Union meetings because we don’t want to be and we’re not going to be a group that competes with Pride Union,’ Taneja said. ‘We’re a group that brings more people to the cause.’

Kaechele does not anticipate a drop in Pride Union membership with the formation of GSSA.

In the spirit of beneficial coexistence, GSSA and Pride Union will meet today to discuss what the goals of the two organizations are and how they will work together.

‘Basically, the thing is, we’re not concerned with the differences between the groups but we’re more interested in being able to work together and get programming together into a coalition more than trying to figure out how we’re going to be different,’ de Jony said.

Published on November 18, 2004 at 12:00 pm