Charlie Ennis: LGBTQ+ Activism

Gender Sexualities Alliance Club president Charlie Ennis, who is transgender and nonbinary, first got involved in the world of LGBTQ+ activism during their time on the Gender Sexualities Alliance Club as an eighth grader. Over time, they have extended their involvement in the community, now helping oversee all GSA clubs in the district and participating on the California Department of Education’s safe school bathrooms ad hoc committee.

At first, their involvement at Gunn remained minimal. An increased level of involvement and presence in the community lead to even greater opportunities. “I came to Gunn and I actually wasn’t that involved in stuff” they said. “Spring of my sophomore year, I was invited to join the State Council and (I) got involved in that. And then was elected GSA president

At Gunn, Ennis can be largely credited for the recent addition of a genderneutral locker room in the Bow Gym as well as a variety of other LGBTQ+-related initiatives. Work on the GSA Club as well as the state committee helped with Ennis’ push for this addition to Gunn’s campus. “I’m most proud of the locker room because I had been working on that since I was in eighth grade, so that’s been almost a five year project for me,” they said. “Also, I got to help design it.”

On the state committee, Ennis also helped write the SB 760 bill that would require all public and charter schools in California to have gender-neutral bathrooms by 2025. Their involvement in the bill marked one of the first times a student in the U.S. wrote a bill that was authored by a senator. So far, the bill is going through the Finance Committee and is on the way towards the senate. “There are (about) six steps left before it (would) get passed,” Ennis said. “We do have a lot of support, but that’s going to be continuing work.”

Next year, Ennis hopes to take a gap year before studying music theory. In the future, they hope to pursue a career in teaching. “I’m hoping to be a teacher,” they said. “So hopefully, through whatever school I end up in, I can continue doing the same kind of work of improving school environments for LGBTQ+ students, whether that’s locker rooms or whatever other issues that may arise in the next five or 10 years.”

—Written by Raphael Semeria