Glisten is dedicated to creating safe and respectful learning environments for youth of all sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, race and abilities.
Advocacy Email Templates
Description: A set of advocacy letter email templates addressed to each specific to the subsect of their social justice issues, including trans student athletes, access to gender-affirming care, safe school environments for trans youth, and protection of disability rights under the ADA. The emails are already prewritten with a clear and persuasive structure.
Use Case: Useful for advocacy groups, particularly students, who want to contact elected officials efficiently and effectively without drafting letters from scratch. It can be used by large campaigns as well as individuals seeking to support a cause in any way they can by applying direct political pressure.
Takeaway: Advocacy becomes far more accessible when people are given practical templates. They save time for campaign organizers and make it much easier for supporters to take part, helping individuals feel directly involved and genuinely part of the movement.
School Board Advocacy
Description: This toolkit helps students understand how school boards make policies that impact them and how to effectively advocate within their school district for inclusive policies or against anti-LGBTQIA+ measures. It provides clear, step-by-step guidance on engaging with boards, including meeting structures, crafting testimony, and organizing strategies.
Use Case: This resource is useful for students, parents, teachers, and local organizations seeking to influence school policies and maximize their chances of success, as understanding how to navigate the heavily bureaucratic system, identify who holds decision-making power, and effectively reach key figures such as Chief State School Officials or department chairs can make the difference between success and failure.
Takeaway: Understanding scope is important, knowing which policies are local, state, or federal. Many begin their advocacy at the federal or even state level, but more often than not, it is school board policies that not only control school-level decisions but also serve as a more accessible and far more powerful entry point for change.
Mission Statement Guide
Description: A structured guide for creating a Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) mission statement, including key guiding questions, writing tips, and even successful two sample statements at the bottom of the document to cross reference.
Use Case: Useful for student-led clubs, especially GSAs, that are establishing or refining their purpose. It is most helpful during founding meetings or strategic planning sessions to ensure alignment within the group.
Takeaway: The best way to write mission statements is through guiding questions, such as who the group includes and what it aims to achieve. It needs to be kept concise so it remains clear, memorable, and easy to use in practice. Most importantly, it must be built collaboratively. Too often, it is pawned off to one individual, but this fails to reflect the group’s collective voice which becomes extremely difficult when the advocacy expands.
Meeting Guide
Description: A guideline outlining how to plan and run effective GSA meetings, including pre-meeting considerations, facilitation strategies, and actionable tips for structuring discussions, setting expectations, and maintaining engagement.
Use Case: This resource is the most useful for those in leadership roles, running GSAs who want to organize structured, productive, and most importantly inclusive meetings. This can be applied to weekly meeting/planning sessions and can be expanded from school meetings to larger groups of 100+ participants.
Takeaway: Effective meetings must be planned beforehand, from having clear roles to even transitioning between subjects. If there is extremely limited time, such as only having 15 minutes, the most critical aspect is to identify the most important points that need to be covered, devote the most time to the most important one, and set designated roles: a timekeeper, to ensure the timeline is followed, and a note taker, so no important information is lost.
How to Start a GSA Toolkit
Description:This guide provides students with the full blueprint of starting a Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) from member recruitment, finding faculty advisors to navigating school specific club requirements like approval process. It also covers the practical logistics from recruitment strategies and often overlooked steps such as selecting a safe and accessible meeting space.
Use Case: Many students recognize the need for a GSA in their school but are unsure how to move from idea to implementation. This resource not only directly supports those students but is also valuable for students looking to expand or strengthen their existing GSA.
Takeaway:
Community and Support are the Foundation: You shouldn't do this alone. The first and most critical step is building a core support system by recruiting interested peers and finding a dedicated, supportive faculty advisor to champion the club and help you navigate school rules.
Be Adaptable: If facing insurmountable administrative barriers, it might be helpful to create "Alternative GSAs," such as virtual or community-based groups, proving that the mission of connecting and protecting LGBTQ+ youth extends beyond school walls.