On Thursday, March 21, 2025, Outright Vermont, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making equitable spaces for LGBTQIA+ youth in schools, invited BMU’s Gender Sexuality Alliance group to take part in their Leadership Day. Outright Vermont holds a Leadership Day every year; this year, they took a trip to Vermont’s state house with the goal of standing against presidential executive orders with the hopes of creating a safe space in schools for the LGBTQIA+ youth community.
On January 20, 2025, President Trump released various executive orders stating that it is, “The policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” In response to these executive orders Jennifer Lund, advisor of the group, shared “This executive order [is] very much targeting trans youth . . . basically, it’s dehumanizing them and basically, taking away their humanity and saying you don’t have the right to be who you are [in] this space and time. So that has been very troubling for our trans community. But also everybody else as well. . . [like] our allies . . . [that] stand behind our community.”
Isabel Hand, president of the club, explains “Our GSA has always been focused around advocacy, so when we heard about this opportunity, we jumped right in.” Prior to taking action at Vermont’s state house, BMU’s GSA club worked hard to prepare for this day by having several Zoom meetings to learn about public speaking, and they wrote letters to Vermont’s Senator Peter Welch expressing their concerns about the recent executive orders. Following all the preparation, Isabel Hand and freshman Ezra Woodward were given the opportunity to stand with Outright Vermont in Vermont’s state house to bring awareness to these recent concerns.
While the next steps to this problem are unsure, Lund explains “I think that this GSA [group] [is a] really committed group of students who care deeply about our community. I can tell you that [they] want to make BMU an equitable and safe place for everybody, and I’m really proud to be a part of that.”
