By Karalee Kothe

The Gay Straight Alliance Club (GSA) will be debuting its first club t-shirts on May 16. Club president Kaycie Korgan (19) said she found a similar design online to the t-shirt pictured above and decided to add “We are human,” to the bottom to “make the shirts our own.” Korgan also said the shirts go beyond judging someone based on sexual orientation. She said, “It could be with anyone, regardless of religion or race, it doesn’t have to be just sexual orientation, it can be anything. Human is such a broad word that should be a definition and not a dividing factor for everyone.”

Club Sponsor, Merri Kirby, agreed with Korgan. She said the purpose of the shirts is “to not judge somebody based on their sexual orientation. It’s to treat them as human whatever their sexual orientation is, because we are all humans first.” Kirby also said one of GSA’s guiding principles is to do everything with integrity. She said, “The whole idea of ‘I am human,’ is treating all humans with integrity regardless of race, sexual orientation, any differences, or any labels.”

Besides new t-shirts, GSA will also be adding Logan Doddridge as a club sponsor next year. Doddridge said he was excited when Korgan and Kirby started the club because “our school and community really needed that.” Doddridge said he decided to be a co-sponsor because “I was walking through the hall one day and I heard so many derogatory terms. I wasn’t happy with what I’d heard in the hallway.” Soon after he decided to become co-sponsor to help bring awareness to the hallways. Doddridge said the t-shirt design was a significant step for the club because “it’s really important for kids to be tolerant of others and learn how to get along with other types of people.”