MARS HALLMAN 2015 GEORGIA VOICE PERSON OF THE YEAR
South Georgia teen’s GSA fight gives a glimpse of the future of the LGBT rights movement By PATRICK SAUNDERS psaunders@thegavoice.com
PHOTO BY WENDA G. BAILEY
As LGBT people across the state came down from the late-June high of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on marriage equality, little did they know there was a fight brewing in South Georgia that would give a peek into what the future of the movement will look like post-marriage. The controversy was about the proposed formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at Berrien High School in tiny Nashville, Georgia. The incident pitted students against students and parents against parents, with a group of faith leaders spreading a petition across town to stop the formation of the club and a school board under fire and facing legal action if it didn’t follow federal law. Standing tall in the middle of the fracas—all 5-foot-3-inches of them—was Mars Hallman. The now 17-year-old Berrien High student, who recently came out as nonbinary and prefers they/them/their pronouns, led the charge for creating the GSA after being fed up with the way them and their LGBT friends were being treated by fellow students. A town divided It’s hard to imagine there could be such an uproar over the 10 or so students who have been meeting this fall as part of Berrien High School’s new GSA. CONTINUES ON PAGE 16