Danville Law Student Making Impact Within LGBTQ Community

DANVILLE, CA — Point Foundation, the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students, announced its 2019 scholarship recipients last week, and a student who hails from Danville made the list. Gabby Sergi, who is currently studying at University of California, Hastings College of Law, graduated with honors from the University of San Francisco. During her time at USF, she majored in sociology with a concentration in criminology, law and society, minoring in child and youth studies, and legal studies.

As a queer first-generation Salvadoran and child of a formerly incarcerated parent, Sergi brings a unique personal perspective to criminal justice reform work, according to her bio. For example, she has connected to and advocated for minority communities behind bars, especially the LGBTQ community, by using the various parts of her own identity and story, her bio states.

During her studies at USF, she worked full-time and interned with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and Huckleberry Youth Programs’ Juvenile Justice Diversion Program, CARC. Post-graduation, she educated at-risk and system-involved juvenile justice youth about their rights, the consequences of crime, and life skills with Fresh Lifelines for Youth in Oakland. She also served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate and was a litigation assistant for the Prison Law Office, a public-interest law firm, where she monitored conditions of confinement in California prisons and jails, according to her bio.

As she furthers her education at Hastings, Sergi hopes to continue serving her communities as a juvenile public defender to help children of incarcerated parents, immigrants, people of color and LGBTQ people, her bio continued.

Sergi is one of 16 scholarship recipients who make up "a group of passionate activists, ready and willing to fight for progress in the face of an increasing lack of support for LGBTQ people at the highest levels of government," according to a Point Foundation announcement. The 16 were chosen to be Point scholars from more than 2,100 applicants, the organization stated.

Point Foundation is also welcoming 25 LGBTQ students to its Community College Scholarship Program. Locally, Emily Greenlee, a theater and acting major at Diablo Valley College earned a spot. She is hoping to pursue her bachelor's degree in acting from a four-year university.

“These LGBTQ students have demonstrated the potential to be the informed and visionary leaders our society needs right now,” said Jorge Valencia, executive director and chief executive officer of Point Foundation. “Their dedication to making the world around them a better place provides our community with the promise of a better future. Point is grateful to the incredible people and companies whose support relieves the crushing burden of financing education and presents our scholars with a new world of opportunity.”