Who We Are & What We Do

History

Iowa QSA was formed on January 17th, 2023 by Emmaline Mitchell and Estella Johnson. During the 2023 Legislative Session, Emma and Estella wanted to connect queer students across the state and create a space where students could come together to discuss the bills that were targeting their community.

In the duration of the 2023 Legislative Session, we worked to coordinate student speakers in sub-committee meetings, planned over 50 school walkouts, spoke at the Rally to Resist on March 5th, and even organized our own “We Say Gay” rally on March 8th.

During the summer of 2023, we connected with and grew our community. We attended many Pride Festivals around Iowa, which has become a wonderful yearly tradition.

For the Legislative Session 2024, we conducted research on student activists and mental well-being nationally and presented our research throughout Iowa. Online, our efforts shifted towards preventing student burnout as well as Legislative Education. Our team focused many of their efforts on growing the organization and leadership training.

Mission

The Iowa Queer Student Alliance works to unite queer students across the state, develop youth leadership skills, and empower students to advocate for themselves. We consist of high school and college students ranging from ages 14 through 23.

Iowa QSA was born out of the need for student voices to be represented within political spaces that impact our livelihood and our education.

We are the future leaders of our society, and we aren't going to wait until the future comes to let our voices be heard.

Vision

We envision a world where our students feel safe to be themselves and are able to create changes within their communities by becoming the leaders of tomorrow!