In 45 seconds, you could wash a couple dishes, send an email, or grab a snack from the pantry. While 45 seconds feels like an insignificant amount of time to the average person, queer kids feel differently. Every 45 seconds, at least one queer teen attempts suicide.

Throughout history, queer people around the world have lived as targets of unfair treatment and bullying. This issue mainly targets teenagers; especially those who look different, act different, or tend to stay quiet in the classroom. While no true justification exists for treating a person badly, some blame it on internal bias, turmoil, fear of the unknown, or religion. No matter the reason, hurtful words will always have the same detrimental effect on queer youth.

“I take it very seriously,” assistant principal Collin Fletcher said. “We have the LGBTQ+ club, and the signs get posted, and sometimes the signs get taken down. It’s difficult to enforce that. It’s my opinion that we should print off hundreds of copies and just put it right back up and send a clear message – that Vandegrift is a safe space. And somebody tearing down that sign isn’t going to stop that club from existing or stop us from welcoming and recognizing our LGBTQ+ students.”

Fletcher, along with the rest of the administration team, fights against hate within the school. In the 2022-23 school year, students tore the LGBTQ+ club posters off the walls of the hallway, and Fletcher noted that he had a more personal conviction to prevent the unfair treatment of queer people.

“We’ve come a long way with how accepting people are of the queer community,” junior Asher Gerson said. “But, it’s so sad when people get treated like that. It’s disappointing to see. I was walking with one of my friends at lunch, and some football guys walked past, and they were jokingly like, ‘Oh my God, what’s your pronouns?’ I try not to pay attention to it.”