A warm, welcoming place exists for everyone here at Madison College. The Gender and Sexuality Alliance, also known as GSA, presents an avenue for people to come together with no restrictions in regards to gender or sexuality.

The GSA welcomes everyone and strives to ensure that everyone feels included. Josh Lynch, the GSA president, said the point of the club is to make everyone feel safe, accepted and not have to be categorized in devaluing ways.

“I hate how people create little boxes for people like gay, straight, lesbian, male, female, et cetera,” Lynch said.

With this environment in place, GSA strives to raise awareness and make changes at the campus. Through diverse events and tabling on campus, the club attempts to makes these changes.

On Feb. 13, the GSA had their first event of the semester, which was Safe Sex Awareness Day. It had a table set up in the Truax cafeteria with organizations like the AIDS Network and Dane County Public Health there with additional information. Members gave away pizza and condoms to make it a fun atmosphere in addition to the education side of the event.

However, safe sex awareness is only one of many issues important to the GSA club. In order to address more issues, GSA has many plans for more events this semester.

One of the ideas in the works is a “bear” carwash. A “bear” in the gay community is a man who exhibits very masculine qualities and is often imagined to be very husky and hairy. Having these men dressed in bikinis and washing cars is an attempt to mock the very stereotypical image of the skinny, blonde, “Barbie” girls who are often in charge of such car washes.

“Our goal is to destroy gender stereotypes,” Lynch said.

GSA has been creating these events and raising awareness throughout the college for about five years now. Lynch said the club was actually started here by his older brother Jon in support of him. Lynch came from a family that was not at all supportive of his sexuality. Josh was struggling with various addictions and having a difficult time coping with the lack of support.

The GSA strives to have the common goal of accepting everyone and doing the best that they can to live peacefully together.

“The goal of GSA is not to tolerate one another but to accept one another,” Lynch said.

GSA is in charge of creating and planning their own unique events but they also make sure to address bigger issues and events going on in larger communities. In April, GSA is planning an STI awareness event to coincide with STI month. More details will be available at a later date.