Crescenta Valley High students dedicate the week to show their support for the LGBT community
Crescenta Valley High School is for the second year celebrating Ally Week, dedicated to raising awareness and building a positive community around those who identify as LGBT.
Allies — those who openly support members of the LGBT community but may not identify as part of it themselves — are encouraged to participate in Ally Week through various events that include rainbow-themed items being handed out by students during lunch to more comprehensive showings of support by various clubs and sports teams.
Inspired by an idea from the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, social studies teacher Alicia Harris originally pushed the idea last year and, with the help of the Gay-Straight Alliance Club on campus, recruited other high-profile groups to support the initiative.
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“We can commit to creating a culture where everybody is safe on campus,” Harris said. “The fact is that even in liberal Los Angeles, the rate of harassment against LGBT students is still alarming. We can try and combat that with a little piece of our universe here. I thought that coming out, so to speak, as an ally is a pretty powerful way to go about it.”
The week started with a PSA-type message informing students about Ally Week and culminated Friday night with an away football away game at Glendale High School, where the Crescenta Valley High team wore rainbow decals on their helmets. Cheerleaders and band members also sported rainbow lapel pins on the sidelines.
On Thursday night, Crescenta Valley teacher Gavin Hall coached the latest ComedySportz improv show wearing rainbow attire. The team avoided any blatant incorporation of LGBT issues into the performance, but any LGBT person in attendance could easily find most, if not all, people in the theater wearing a small rainbow sticker.
Although participation is voluntary, Harris said she noticed this year an increase in the number of organizations that supported Ally Week, saying at least 50 clubs asked to hand out rainbow ribbons. Harris was surprised most by the outreach from the Falcon Christian Fellowship and the Montrose Methodist Church, which contributed rainbow-decorated crosses that students could also hand out.
“Groups now jump on board almost expecting to be a part of it,” Harris said. “There’s a sense that it’s routine, just something that we’ll be doing at CV.”
Emily Sauer, a 17-year-old senior and president of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance Club, said she’s noticed small but meaningful changes at the school toward LGBT students, especially since incoming freshmen from Rosemont Middle School now have the benefit of their own Gay-Straight Alliance Club.
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FOR THE RECORD
10/22, 9:11 p.m.: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that participation in the Gay-Straight Alliance Club at Crescenta Valley High increased due to incoming freshmen from Montrose Elementary. The freshmen came from Rosemont Middle School.
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“I have lots of friends that identify as part of the LGBT community and a lot of them are super happy to feel safe,” Sauer said. “As it continues to grow, I think more people will be open to come out and feel safe and be able to talk about how they feel, and I really just hope it becomes more of an accepting community.”
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Jeff Landa, jeff.landa@latimes.com
Twitter: @JeffLanda
