The Southport Pride Club isn’t only about LGBTQ+ pride, it’s a group of around 30 students who bond with each other through activities and games. Students don’t need to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community, allies are also welcome to join. The club is currently sponsored by math teacher Tim Case, and was run by English teacher Sara Kohne in previous years.

“If I could describe my kids, they are very artsy, very theatre-connected, very genuine and full of energy,” Case said.

The club meets every Thursday right after school in the auditorium. If the auditorium is in use, they meet in room 117. The first and last Thursdays of every month are club business days and the Thursdays in between are just social days. Business days are planning days where the club talks about future plans. Social days are times for members to sit and talk with each other.

Most of the meetings usually start out with an activity called check-in where students are able to talk about their lives, whether it’s sadness and bullying or good things and improvement. They do this activity to help the students cope and feel at ease with mental troubles that happened that week. 

“The check-in time is a good sharing time for everybody,” Case said. 

With the check-in, the place is considered a safe space by many people, including Senior Sierra Perkins, a regular for the club. They try to make it as comfortable and secure as possible, to help members of the club vent to one another in the healthiest way possible.

“There is no reason to feel unsafe,” Perkins said. “We try to make sure everyone feel safe and included.”

Recently, they have started the Creative You project in which students will be given a genderless template and use colors, words, symbols and whatever else they need to use to explain who they are. Case says the members enjoy the activity and various ways to express themselves. 

Another project in the works is the No G Word campaign which is a movement to stop people from using the word gay is a negative demeanor. Staff and students, including the ones not in the club, sign a poster pledging to not use the term gay in a negative way for one week. Case says that using the word in the right context, the sexuality, is okay. The inspiration for the campaign came from the No R Word campaign started by the school previously, which seemed to have mostly worked. Case hopes that the No G Word campaign works similarly to that one.

The club has opened up possibilities and new ways to express feelings for students in all grades. Sophomore Kam Vanavery, a regular for the club, enjoys the company and experience of being there and hopes others will choose to join in the future.

“I don’t regret being in this club, ” Vanavery said. “I think it’s a very positive club and you can just be yourself and be open about who you are.”