Junior Asher McNamee, president of West’s Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA), was nominated and then awarded the 20 Under 20 Award by the Missouri GSA.

“It’s for twenty influential people that are under twenty years old, sponsored by MissouriGSA.org,” McNamee said.

In this case, ‘influential’ means taking action to promote civil rights, especially LGBT+ rights. Fittingly, the 20 Under 20 Award Ceremony was held on the 2015 Day of Silence, where students across the nation take vows of silence for a day to raise awareness about the silence-inducing effects of anti-LGBT+ bullying.

“The entire event was called Night of Noise because the day was Day of Silence, so everyone broke the silence by talking and making a lot of noise,” McNamee said.

The Night of Noise was held at Mokabe’s Coffeehouse, in downtown St. Louis, on April 17.

“I thought it was going to be formal, but it was pretty informal,” McNamee said. “They read off the names of the winners and I got a certificate with my  name and ‘20 Under 20’ on it. That was pretty cool.”

To win the 20 Under 20 Award, McNamee had to be nominated and then selected by a Missouri GSA board. McNamee’s friend, junior Hank Peck, submitted the nomination.

“There was an online form. I just had to say who it was and why I thought he should get it,” Peck said. “I was just like, ‘He’s a rad guy, and he’s always there for people.’”

The nomination also included several examples of McNamee’s activism.

“I’m part of this program called Teen Advocates for Sexual Health at Planned Parenthood. It’s all about teaching people to be healthy and have safe relationships,” McNamee said.

In addition to Teen Advocates for Sexual Health, McNamee participates in Teen Voice for Change.

“Teen Voice for Change is a bunch of teenagers from Parkway who get together to change the district,” McNamee said. “Our current goal is to get the Parkway Non-Discrimination Act changed to say that people can’t discriminate against gender identity, because right now it says you can’t discriminate against sexuality, but not your gender expression or identity.”

At school, McNamee is currently organizing a transgender clothing drive.

“Currently, we’re having a clothing drive where you can donate old clothes that you have. There are two teachers who are doing it, [Diana] Fox and [Colleen] O’Toole, and all the grade level principals have collection boxes in their offices. The clothes are going to go to trans people in need,” McNamee said. “We’re also accepting monetary donations, but we’re not expecting any. Those go to MissouriGSA.org to help them fund their GSA leadership camp this summer.”

Looking ahead, McNamee is trying to organize a transgender day at the St. Louis Zoo.

“I’m trying to get a bunch of trans people in the area to hang out at the zoo next week,” McNamee said.

However, McNamee’s plans don’t stop there.

“Eventually, all I want to do is advocacy, because that’s how you can break the silence,” McNamee said. “I really want to do political work because I can’t vote now, but I really like the idea that I can use my voice in other ways. Aside from voting when I’m older, I want to continue to use my voice in powerful ways. So political work like lobbying would be really cool.”