Who is The Rainbow STEM Alliance?

​We were founded by three long time FIRST alumni, mentors and volunteers to serve and mentor the LGBTQ+ of FIRST student organization, as well to promote LGBTQ+ people in K-12 STEM Initiatives. The Mission of the RSA is to promote acceptance and inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, etc. youth within the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics educational fields.

What is the LGBTQ+ of FIRST organization?

  • The LGBTQ+ of FIRST is a student run group founded in 2016 as a blog for and by LGBTQ+ students
  • The LGBTQ+ of FIRST group is comprised of student administrators, as well as representatives, ambassadors, and partner teams that represent the group at competitions and events, as well as give out LGBTQ+ of FIRST pins, information, and other literature
  • The LGBTQ+ of FIRST discord server is a great meeting place for LGBTQ+ students, allies, mentors, and alumni to interact in a safe space.

For more information about the LGBTQ+ of FIRST, please visit their website

What is the RSA FIRST Scholarship?

The Rainbow STEM Alliance (RSA) exists to promote acceptance and inclusion of LGBTQ+ youth in STEM educational fields or auxiliary fields that have direct interactions with STEM groups.  We fully support the mission of FIRST and believe that promoting acceptance and inclusion is an essential part of engaging young people in STEM fields. 

Our scholarship is intended to recognize and assist four individuals with a $500 non-renewable scholarship each for one year.  This year's scholarship deadline is May 31st, 2023.

More information can be found here!

How to Decrypt the “Alphabet Soup”

L - Lesbian
G - Gay
B - Bisexual
T - Transgender
Q - Queer, or Questioning
+ - The plus is intended to help with inclusivity in the community

How to be an Ally to your Team


  • Being an Ally entails supporting the LGBTQ+ community in all its forms, even if you may be confused by some, it is important to remember that LGBTQ+ people are as unique as heterosexual cisgender people!
  • Cisgender isn’t a slur. It is used to acknowledge people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.
  • You should let people know you are an ally to show that you support them, and that you are there for them if they need to talk to you. Think of Allies as lifelines, because they sometimes can be. Allies help to normalize LGBTQ+ identities.
  • Include your pronouns in your introductions, or email footers. It shows you acknowledge that people are people, and helps to break down the barrier for those who may use other pronouns. 
  • ​Mention your an ally in introduction meetings to your team, and let your students (or peers!) know you are someone they can count on for support and that you won’t judge them.

How to be an effective ally (and what students think this means!

  • Do some research about Gender Identities and Sexualities.
  • Ask for Pronouns on team forms to help provide you with guidance on what a student prefers, but make it an optional field. This can help encourage your students to share if comfortable.
  • Use their pronouns they have identified
    • If you screw up a chosen name or pronouns, it’s ok. We all do at times, just apologize and correct yourself, and try again.
      • Deadnaming is the term used when someone refers to an individual by their "given" or "birth" name either by accident, or often times maliciously. It is why it is important to correct yourself, apologize, and continue on.
  • Listen to your students ideas on how to improve ED&I on your team.
  • If you don’t know something, try to foster a healthy line of communication with your students to learn more information. Also, admitting you may not know about it is ok, and you can always do more research on your own if you want more knowledge about a subject.
  • Work with your students to learn about, and respect, their LGBTQ+ peers
  • Set a broad and encompassing non-descrimination policy and stick with it (in regards to racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, etc.). These students need to know that the team should be a safe place for all of them, and this is a great way to emphasize it.

Gender Identities and Pronouns

  • One way to continue to be a supportive ally for your teams is discussing which pronouns your students use and their preferred name
    • On beginning of year forms, ask for Preferred Name, and pronouns
      • Have discussions with them about how comfortable they are with others (especially family and friends) knowing these. 
        • Sometimes an LGBTQ+ person could be entrusting you with the information for the first time. You could be the first person they ever tell. How you handle that knowledge could literally be life saving.
    • FIRST and The RSA have worked together to get many of the forms for students to be more open for trans and non-binary students, while still allowing for them to stay closeted if they feel they need to.
  • FIRST does not require Legal Names for minors in the student system.​

Housing

  • Housing is one of the largest concerns we have heard about from mentors. Often times schools already have guidance on how they wish to house LGBTQ+ students. Unfortunately it usually is detrimental to the students, but if you are affiliated with a school (and sometimes at state levels) you have to follow their guidances. We always recommend discussing this with schools before the question comes up on your team.
  • We are previously worked on a non-discriminatory policy to help LGBTQ+ students when it comes to rooming. While this initiative has stalled at this time, we do still intend to bring it up again with FIRST HQ in the future.

Ahhhhh Someone Just Came Out To Me, Now What?

  • Often times when people aren’t expecting it, someone will come out to them. Because, guess what, there is no good time to come out, and sometimes a student may just blurt it out in the middle of a break down, or pull you aside and have a solid conversation about it.
  • The biggest thing to remember, DON’T PANIC!
    • Support them
    • Let them know you care
    • Thank them.
      • This one sounds weird, but they may have just told you their biggest secret they have never told a single other person. If appropriate, simply saying, “thank you for sharing that with me” can be huge to let them know you understand the gravity of what they told you.
      • If you can, ask if they have told anyone else yet. This can help you to avoid accidentally outing them to teammates, parents, other mentors, etc.
        • Every coming out is different. This could happen when you first discuss it, or at the next team meeting if it is more appropriate then, but don’t break their trust (unless they are in a position where they may be liable for self harm, then their safety always comes first)​

Why YOU Should Care! (TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE/SELF HARM)

  • ​Why does all of this matter?
    • Well, for many of these students, like all students, they are still trying to figure it all out, and things may change, but a lot of the time it doesn’t.
    • Respecting an individual’s pronouns, and preferred name, lets them know that you see them as valid
    • Starting conversations with your own pronouns after you give your name allows them to know that you take it seriously, and helps end the stigma around having different pronouns.
      • What not to do
        • Make a joke like “you can call me anything except late to dinner” or something like that. You may think it’s funny, and get chuckles, but you also just marked yourself as not safe to your student.
  • Suicide statistics from The Trevor Project
    • LGBTQ youth are 3x more likely to contemplate suicide
    • LGBTQ youth are 5x more likely to have attempted suicide
    • 40% of transgender adults have attempted suicide
  • As you can see Mental Health issues are a huge part of LGBTQ+ existence and being an effective Ally can help to reduce the strain your students feel.

Additional Resources

  • The Trevor Project - A national 24-hour, toll free confidential suicide hotline for LGBTQ youth. Safe, Confidential Lifeline for LGBTQ Young People
  • GLSEN - Lots of resources for LGBTQ+ Youth, some focus on school based programs and teams. 
  • FIRST ED&I Training
  • Your students!