How a SLO County student club helps LGBTQ+ youth find joy amid political strife
As tensions flared in the Paso Robles school district over its policies around transgender students and athletes, graduating senior Aster Watson and other members of the Queer Student Union were busy planning events to bring joy and a sense of belonging to their LGBTQ+ peers.
From cookie decorating to tie-dye events to their annual Pride night, the club has worked week in and week out to counter the negativity that has been directed toward the queer community over the last year.
Though activism has been an interest for some students in the club, leaders say it mainly serves as a space where LGBTQ+ youth and their allies can feel safe and welcome — and importantly, where they can find joy, despite the efforts to tear them down.
“It’s those kinds of things that, like, when we’re stressed out about all of this board meeting stuff, and it feels like the whole world is against us, we have to bring ourselves back and force ourselves to remember the reasons that we’re here,” Watson, who served as president of the club, told The Tribune in an interview in late March.
Students advocated for queer youth at school board meetings
Public comment at several Paso Robles school board meetings in the last year has been dominated by debates over the district’s policies that, in line with California state law, allow transgender students to compete on sports teams and use the facilities that align with their gender identities.
It’s a debate that has echoed across the state in recent years, including at Arroyo Grande High School, where a trans athlete has been vilified by critics and even dragged into the election when Assembly candidate Shannon Kessler introduced a girl who called out the student and California policies in a chat with Republican governor candidate Steve Hilton during a campaign stop at Cal Poly in May.
The effort to change the district’s policies was supported by some community members and female students who voiced concerns about their privacy and fairness for female athletes.
Conservative school board trustee Kenny Enney, who has previously been criticized for his stances on LGBTQ+ identities, was a prominent leader among the crowd, regularly using his seat on the dais to raise the topic and advocate for policy changes.
In October, after the school board refused to take up a resolution proposed by Enney, he said he would bring the topic up at all future board meetings — even going as far as to recommend concerned parents withdraw their children from Paso Robles public schools or “lawyer up and sue.”
In the crowd at several of the meetings were Queer Student Union representatives, including Watson, who served as president of the club.
“It wasn’t a surprise when we first heard the news that there were people asking for anti-trans policies at school, but it was definitely disheartening,” Watson, who identifies as genderfluid, told the Tribune in March.
In response, the club started hosting second weekly meetings for students who wanted to gather to discuss what was happening at the school board.
Despite a fear of public speaking, Watson said he felt the need to stand up for himself and other queer youth who couldn’t show up at the board meetings.
While community members said they were advocating for privacy and protections for female students, Watson said he felt there were other motives behind those statements.
“I tried to focus on the actual issues,” he said of his own comments at the meetings. “... The stem of the problem being discussed is privacy and student conduct, but the community, Paso community, came together and decided that that was an opportunity to be transphobic.”
Bailey Andrews, treasurer of the club, told The Tribune in April that she showed up at the meetings because she wanted to do something to help.
She said she was alarmed hearing people refer to their religion during the school board meetings, and said she tried to focus on facts and not feelings when she addressed the board.
“I’m not a member of the trans community, so I tried to stick to facts mostly, and how this logically should be working out,” she said.
Eventually, after months of continuing conversations and heated comments, the district settled on building new changing stalls in the girls bathrooms at the high school to match facilities already available in the boys bathrooms.
Andrews said that the new changing stalls in the bathrooms will be nice, regardless of why they were installed.
“As someone who’s changed in those locker rooms for at least two years, I think it’s very useful — especially for kids that aren’t trans and just don’t want to change out in the open,” she said. “... I’m really glad that those were getting installed, because I think that’s the best balance between the two, without having to segregate trans kids into one locker room and still keep them with their peers.”
Watson agreed the solution was the most diplomatic one available — but he wished the school board indicated more support for transgender students during the debates.
“I think my club is pretty hopeful about how things have gone, because it means that, you know, everyone kind of gets the protections and the rights they deserve,” he said.
Despite the trials of the last year, Watson said he believes that those who may hold prejudices against the LGBTQ+ community can learn and grow.
At a school board meeting in January, Watson recounted his own experiences with students who he said have threatened to hurt him, thrown trash at him, verbally harassed him and mimed explicit actions in mockery.
Watson said he received support from teachers but felt that other school staff weren’t responsive to the allegations. He said he never learned if the students faced consequences.
“Anything we learn can be unlearned, and harmful behaviors must be recognized as harmful before you can change them,” he told The Tribune in March.
He added that he wants community members to know that his existence is not a threat.
“If I feel scary to you or like a threat to you, then that is a reflection of your own views and not of the person you are viewing,” he said.
Queer Student Union helps students find community
Queer Student Union faculty adviser Christopher Smith told The Tribune that when he was first invited to be involved with the club, he started asking adult members of the LGBTQ+ community what would have improved their high school experiences.
“They just said, ‘A place for us to be ourselves,’” he recalled in an April interview.
And that’s exactly the purpose of the Queer Student Union.
The club hosts weekly meetings at lunchtime, gathering roughly 25 to 30 students. Those meetings serve as a respite from the negativity that is sometimes directed at queer youth, as well as broader high school struggles with friend groups, bullying and academics.
“Most of the time, it’s just students hanging out, just being students,” Smith told The Tribune. “They’re just hanging out, talking to their friends and doing all the things you would expect from teenagers.”
For Watson, who first joined the club as a sophomore, the Queer Student Union helped him find community after he moved to the area a few years prior.
“The friends I made really helped me learn who I was, and be confident in who I was,” Watson said. “I think that’s a really huge thing. ... In tandem with discovering yourself, you also have to learn to accept yourself. That’s sometimes a lot harder than just figuring it out.”
As president of the club this year, he wanted to extend the opportunities to find joy to other students seeking acceptance. He said he’s focused on balancing education and resources with fun and excitement.
The club hosts an annual Pride night, which invites students to dance, do crafts and activities, and mingle at the end of the school year.
Watson said crafting is core to his involvement with the club, as someone who often relies on art and poetry as a way to find joy.
Having a club that offers fun events for queer students is especially important in a community like Paso Robles, Watson said.
“It can really be hard for a student, or a kid in general, to know for a fact that they’re surrounded by people who don’t support them,” he said. “And when you have that kind of club ... that’s an immediate signal to that kid that there is a place for them.”
Andrews told The Tribune that the existence of the Queer Student Union in Paso seems like a no-brainer.
“There’s so many different clubs for so many different communities,” she said. “And so, of course, a queer club that is accepting of all would be something made at Paso Robles High School.”
And at the end of the day, Smith said, the club is a student organization just like any other.
“These are just students trying to live their lives,” he said. “And my job as an ally, and as a teacher of these students, is just to try to help them find their own fulfillment and find their own joy, and just kind of have a memorable experience in high school.”
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