By Sarah Stollak
LANSING – Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network of Mid-Michigan (GLSEN-MM) will present the third annual Gay Straight Alliance Summit in Lansing on Saturday, January 31.
GSA students, advisors, and other interested participants will have the opportunity to meet others in the mid-Michigan area, pick up resource materials, and discuss a range of relevant issues.
Leslie Mull, treasurer of GLSEN-MM, is excited to see the summit grow, and especially the results that follow. "The students really feel good about meeting each other and meeting great adult role models," she said.
Presentations and breakout sessions will include topics such as transgender activism and AIDS prevention and awareness, and student panelists will discuss personal experiences with GSAs in their high schools.
Returning to participate will be Sean Kosofsky, Director of Policy at Triangle Foundation, and Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Project, whose past presentations prompted at least one student to start a GSA in his own school.
This year, confirmed participants will come from schools in Dewitt, Mason, Jackson, Grosse Pointe, and Lansing, among others.
Mull encourages clubs and students who come to the summit to bring a display or other materials relating to a GSA project they have worked on.
