Speaking as a former President of the Gay-Straight Alliance group at Daytona State. I have always strongly believed in allowing my fellow LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning) classmates to have a support group to back them up whenever they need it.

The LGBTQ GSA group is not just a support group, it's a group with the desire to help others in our age group, to understand our cause before they form an uneducated opinion about a topic they haven't been given the opportunity to learn about completely.

It's important that as a community built around bringing young adults into the world full of knowledge meant to aid them in whatever they decide to choose as a career, that we also give them the strength to be confident in who they are, and who they were meant to be.

As the Daytona State LGBTQ GSA club, we specialize in spreading awareness about a very serious issue that has caused a lot of heartache.

You can't tell us we are overreacting when we see news articles like these.

Although, parts of the world are very accepting of the LGBTQ community, we, unfortunately, live in a country that still has a hard time grasping the concept of same-sex marriage being a legitimate union.

When I was President, we would conduct monthly movie nights with LGBTQ-friendly plots.

We also were planning on having monthly nights where we would invite classmates that aren't already in the group to join in while we pick one or two sexual orientations out of the colorful spectrum to focus on so we can help others understand the intricacies of the specific orientation(s) and even share our stories, if there are any.

It's meant to spread awareness for those who don't quite understand.

Another event we would hold, monthly, is a group date to Hamburger Mary's to support our beautiful Drag Kings & Queens

We would also try our best to participate in school events such as Pride Prom and national events such as World AIDS Day. December 1st, we try to spread awareness of the importance of being tested for HIV if you are sexually active by handing out goodie bags with business cards to facilities that conduct free HIV testing and support groups if the individual doesn't feel comfortable attending the LGBTQ GSA group at Daytona State.

As a group, as well as a second family for most, we tried to create events for holidays, as well, to bring us closer as a whole.

As I stated before, we as a support group but also a group that wants to take action against the hate because when you choose to be a bystander, you've chosen the side of the oppressor.

LGBTQ GSA group at Daytona State will be holding weekly meetings on Monday's at 2:30 pm, in the QUANTA room located on the second floor of the library.

We look forward to this semester's possibilities.

Huge shout out to Greta Eitzen (current DSC GSA President) for helping me collect the group photos for the article!