GSA Summit Preparations

On Saturday, the GSA Summit was held at the MCC. The Gay Straight Alliance is a group that seeks to unite students against homophobia to:

• create safe environments in schools
• educate schools
• fight discrimination

The group brought students from across Houston together to discuss outreach strategies to combat homophobia and raise awareness about acceptance. As I have an exam tomorrow, I was unable to help with the actual summit, but I was able to help on Friday to set up the area for the summit.
I learned that an important part of the summit was that reporter coverage not be extensive... the point of the summit is to talk about how to deal with homophobia in schools, it is understood that bringing the press into such a thing endangers people.

As of June of this year, the US Department of Education mandated that schools allow GSA organizations to be set up in the interest of reducing verbal or physical bullying.
Hopefully, the effects of the GSA can positively influence high schools.

Orientation and Packaging

At 10am on Saturday, I attended the Montrose Counseling Center orientation. Our coordinator detailed the plethora of programs that are available for volunteers to work at.

Some of volunteer positions available were: 24/7 phone service, Cyber Center attending, clerical work, fundraising, outreach, and even assistance in dealing with human trafficking. I was surprised that there were not very many potential volunteers, as I expected in a diverse city like Houston there would be more people willing to help out at a community center. In retrospect, given the negative outlook that many people have towards the GLBT community, it is not all that surprising that the counseling center is not flooded with volunteers.

One of the services the center itself provides include aid from abusive relationships. I learned that the law is not exactly sympathetic towards female same sex relationship abuse.

One crucial point that our coordinator emphasized is the confidentiality that the MCC maintains. If you meet someone you know from the MCC outside the MCC, it's their right to decide whether or not they want to "know" you. Counseling is a private activity, and just like the doctor-patient confidentiality, the general populace does not need to know whether or not someone sought help.

After receiving an extensive tour of the large facility, we were tasked with making "condom packs" in the hopes that people from various environments would take them and reduce their risk of catching a sexually transmitted disease. One set of packets contained information about abuse, and the other contained flyers about consensual contact. A certain percentage of the people that take the packets will read the contained information, and hopefully learn about the importance of being careful.

Our coordinator mentioned that sometime this week (and every week from now on), she will email us with a list of possible activities to volunteer in for that week. So far, I have not received an email, though I hope that soon I will.

Expectations

The Montrose Counseling Center provides an educational and nurturing environment for members of the LGBTQ community that very much need it. It was originally founded in 1978 with the vision of working to change society towards a healthier and more positive environment for LGBTQ individuals as well as to help them realize their full potential.

The Center provides counseling for problems such as domestic violence, HIV, and even self counseling in the HATCH program. The goal is to help people know that they are not alone and that they matter.

As my schedule has still not been entirely worked out yet, I may volunteer for fundraising events that aim to raise awareness, setting up a youth summit, or even helping with a walk for mental awareness. Whatever I do, I want to be able to help draw positive attention to the idea of dealing with life hindering diseases and conditions.

As it is, I am excited to be able to participate at the Counseling Center (as I visited it once to conduct an interview for a course I took and very impressed with the cooperative spirit within) and hope to report some interesting events!