Last year, some teachers showed support of students participating in the Day of Silence, during which people do not speak for the day to draw attention to the silencing effect of bullying on LGBTQ students. Since it would be difficult to teach without speaking, Ms. Bold, sponsor of the Gay-Straight Alliance, created a flyer that the staff could post in their classrooms to show their commitment to creating “safe spaces”.

“The idea behind a ‘safe space’ is to indicate that an educator does not tolerate discrimination or harassment in his or her classroom,” explained Grace Tang, a senior and the president of the GSA. “We hope to promote an educational environment that is open and accepting, by ensuring our school welcomes and respects all people.” The Gay-Straight Alliance provides a positive place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual students and their straight allies to raise awareness of social issues and explore the role of the queer community in society (as per their mission statement).

This year, Mr. Eveslage modified the wording to include race and religion in the safe space designation. These posters are now required for every classroom.

One might wonder, how much do we need these signs? To what extent is Harriton a safe space for our students? And will the new flyers have any impact on discriminatory behavior that does exist in school? Mr. Eveslage hopes that the Safe Space signs will serve as a daily urging to all of us to create as safe a place as possible.

“Society in general needs to become more accepting of differences and similarly Harriton needs to strive for improvement in becoming truly a safe space for all. While I realize that some spaces are ‘safer’ than others on our campus, it has to be an ongoing mission for us collectively, staff and students, to strive to make every classroom and area safe, in every sense of the word, for students,” Mr. Eveslage said.

Though we still have a ways to go, Grace Tang counts these signs a victory for LGBTQ students. No teacher at Harriton has refused to have a Safe Space poster in their room. They are setting an example for their classes and acting as allies themselves to LGBTQ kids at Harriton.

While we should appreciate our teachers’ first steps in support of a completely safe educational space, it’s up to us as students to continue the journey. Let us hope that in this year and in the future, the declaration that “this is a safe space” will ring true.