Cecilia Gentili

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Cecilia Gentili
BornJanuary 1972[1]
Gálvez, Santa Fe, Argentina
DiedFebruary 6, 2024 (aged 52)
New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican

Cecilia Gentili (January 1972[1] – February 6, 2024) was an Argentine American advocate for the rights of transgender people and sex workers. Born in Argentina, she moved to New York City. She held leadership positions at the LGBTQ HIV/AIDS care nonprofits GMHC and APICHA, co-founded a free clinic for sex workers at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, co-founded DecrimNY, an organization which successfully decriminalized sex work in New York and repealed the "Walking while trans law", and founded Trans Equity Consulting. She filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's removal of non-discrimination protections for gender identity in the Affordable Care Act.

Early life[edit]

Gentili was born in January 1972,[1] and raised in the Argentinian city of Gálvez, Santa Fe. Her parents were Italian and Argentinian. She was sexually abused from 6 until 10 years old by a neighbor. She came out as gay at 12 years old, with mother being more open-minded about her sexuality than her father, and her brother struggling to accept her.[2] Gentili's grandmother, an Indigenous woman from the countryside, was "the only person who truly was open to a conversation about gender".[3] Gentili attended Baptist services with her as a child.[4]

She was verbally and physically attacked on the streets, sometimes by the local authorities as in the late 1980s and early 1990s it was illegal to wear clothing of the opposite sex in Argentina. Gentili moved to Rosario, a larger city, to attend college.[2] It was there that she met a trans person for the first time,[5] and started to identify as a woman. At age 26 she decided to move to the United States in search of a better life.[2]

Life in the United States[edit]

After living in Brazil, she moved to the United States.[3] She first moved to Miami, where she had difficulty finding a job due to not having a legal status. Within two weeks of arriving in Miami, she was arrested for prostitution and placed in a male jail.[2] She continued to live in Miami for five years.[6] Over the next few years, she struggled with drug addiction, engaged in sex work, spent more time in prison, and faced a deportation order.[2]

When Gentili moved to New York City in 2003, she was both undocumented and a sex worker.[7] In 2009, she was arrested on drug possession charges and imprisoned at Rikers, but was let out with an ankle bracelet as she could not be safely housed with either men or women, being assaulted by both groups.[7] She was granted asylum in the United States in 2011, and legally changed her name the following year.[1][2] She subsequently entered an addiction recovery program.[7] She became a U.S. citizen in September 2022.[7]

Activism[edit]

In 2010, Gentili began an internship at The LGBT Center, where she began working with the NYC Anti-Violence Project.[8] From 2012 until 2016, she was the trans health program coordinator at the Apicha Community Health Center in New York City.[9][10][11] From 2016 to 2019, Gentili was the Director of Policy at the GMHC, an AIDS service organization in New York City and the world's first organization dedicated to HIV/AIDS prevention.[10][11][12]

While part of the GMHC, she championed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), a proposed piece of state legislation which was eventually signed into law in 2019.[11] Gentili was active in the formation of and led the DecrimNY campaign (formed 2019), which successfully decriminalized sex work in New York and repealed the "Walking while trans law", which criminalized "loitering for the purposes of prostitution" and was used to unfairly target, harass, and arrest transgender women of color.[10][11][13] She was also the main leader behind the Lorena Borjas Trans Equity Fund NYC, which provided $1.8 million to organizations serving transgender people.[10][11]

In 2019, she founded Trans Equity Consulting, a development consulting firm that sought to center trans women of color, immigrants, sex workers, and incarcerated people.[12][11] That year, she also joined the Board of Directors of Stonewall Community Foundation, a New York-based, LGBTQ-focused grantmaking organization, where she served until her death. In 2020, she hosted Fierce Futures, a fundraiser supporting organizations that aid Black trans people.[12]

In 2020, under the Trump Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services removed provisions in the Affordable Care Act on sex discrimination, which included gender identity, days before the Supreme Court issued a ruling that protections in the Civil Rights Act on the basis of sex extend to gay and transgender people. Gentili and Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker brought a lawsuit against the department with the aid of the Human Rights Campaign and the law firm BakerHostetler, arguing the rule "directly contravenes" the Supreme Court ruling.[9][14]

Gentili was a co-founder of Callen-Lorde Community Health Center "Cecilia's Occupational Inclusion Network" (COIN) clinic, the first dedicated healthcare center for sex workers on the East Coast, which was created in 2021.[10][11][15][13][16]

In October 2023, she was among hundreds arrested at a rally calling for a ceasefire in Gaza organized by the anti-Zionist organization Jewish Voice for Peace.[17]

She was a leading voice among the hundreds of New York Times contributors who spoke out against the newspaper's biased coverage of transgender people.[13]

Creative pursuits[edit]

In 2017, Gentili mounted The Knife Cuts Both Ways, a comedic one-woman show based on light-hearted stories from her life.[4][7] Also that year, she modeled for American fashion designer Gogo Graham.[18]

Gentili starred in Pose, a TV drama following trans women of color amidst the AIDS crisis in 1980's NYC, as Ms. Orlando.[9][12][13]

In 2022, she released her debut book, Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn't My Rapist, which won a Stonewall Book Award for nonfiction.[13] She debuted her autobiographical off-Broadway show loosely based on the book, Red Ink, in 2023.[12][19][20] She had planned to reprise the show in April 2024.[21]

In 2023, she created and co-organized "Transmissions Fest", the first all-trans music festival in NYC, with the proceeds going to LGBTQ+ charities.[12][22]

Personal life[edit]

At the time of her death, Gentili split her time between Brooklyn with her partner, whom she had been with since the mid-2010s,[3] and her home in upstate New York.[4]

Gentili attended both Baptist and Catholic services during her life, but found the experiences traumatic and came to identify as an atheist. In November 2023, she said in an interview that she was exploring her relationship to religion.[4]

Death and legacy[edit]

Gentili's family announced her death on her Instagram account on the morning of February 6, 2024.[13] Tributes to her were posted by GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, deputy director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU National LGBT & HIV Project's Chase Strangio, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Callen-Lorde's CEO, Patrick McGovern, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, and fellow actors on Pose such as Angelica Ross and MJ Rodriguez.[11][13]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Fitzpatrick, Cat (2022-10-11). "Cecilia Gentili on Growing Up Trans in 1970s Argentina (and Discovering How to Write About It)". Literary Hub. Archived from the original on 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rodriguez, Daniel (2016-08-02). "Trans Latina Immigrants Flee to U.S. Hoping for a Better Life". NBC News. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  3. ^ a b c Byron, Grace (2022-10-03). "In her new memoir, the legendary Cecilia Gentili introduces us to the witches and mothers in her life". Xtra Magazine. Archived from the original on 2023-11-30. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  4. ^ a b c d Walker, Harron (2023-11-01). "Cecilia Gentili Is Looking for God in Her New One-Woman Show". Interview Magazine. Archived from the original on 2024-02-06. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  5. ^ Murphy, Tim (2017-06-15). "Transgender HIV Activist Cecilia Gentili Is Blazing a Fierce and Funny Trail". The Body. Archived from the original on 2020-10-03. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  6. ^ Lyons, Daniel (2014-03-14). "Transgender Activist Cecilia Gentili on Identity and Putting the 'T' Back in LGBT". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  7. ^ a b c d e Walker, Harron (2022-11-03). "Cecilia Gentili Opens Her Burn Book". Vulture. Archived from the original on 2022-12-22. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  8. ^ "40 Change Makers: Cecilia Gentili". NYC Anti-Violence Project. 2020-03-05. Archived from the original on 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  9. ^ a b c Gupta, Alisha Haridasani (2020-09-03). "Transgender People Face New Legal Fight After Supreme Court Victory". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-11-03. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  10. ^ a b c d e Cerro, Ximena Del (2022-09-07). "Meet the first of 8 Brooklyn finalists for the David Prize: transgender advocate Cecilia Gentili". Brooklyn Paper. Archived from the original on 2023-06-09. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Tracy, Matt (2024-02-06). "Cecilia Gentili, longtime advocate for trans people, immigrants, and sex workers, dies at 52". Gay City News. Archived from the original on 2024-02-07. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Allen, Samantha (2024-02-06). "Cecilia Gentili, Beloved Transgender Advocate, Author, and Actress, Has Died". Them. Archived from the original on 2024-02-07. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Levesque, Brody (2024-02-07). "Cecilia Gentili, trans Latina activist, advocate & actress dies at 52". Los Angeles Blade. Archived from the original on 2024-02-07. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  14. ^ Morrow, Nick (2020-06-26). "HRC Files Federal Lawsuit Against Trump-Pence Administration". Human Rights Campaign. Archived from the original on 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  15. ^ Song, Sandra (April 15, 2021). "This Healthcare Center Allows Sex Workers to Be Themselves". Paper. Archived from the original on November 28, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
  16. ^ Bellamy-Walker, Tat (2021-04-07). "Cecilia Gentili and Callen-Lorde Launch Free Clinic for Sex Workers". Gay City News. Archived from the original on 2024-02-07. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  17. ^ Factora, James (2023-10-30). "Indya Moore Was One of Hundreds Arrested at an NYC Rally for an Israeli Ceasefire". Them. Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  18. ^ "Gogo Graham's Fall '17 Lookbook Stars Transgender Model Cecilia Gentili". www.out.com. Archived from the original on 2024-02-07. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  19. ^ Hamilton, Colleen (2023-12-21). "Cecilia Gentili's One-Woman Show Is an Ode to Her Trans Saints". Them. Archived from the original on 2023-12-21. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  20. ^ Wild, Stephi (2023-10-06). "RED INK Will Make Off-Broadway Premiere This Month". BroadwayWorld.com. Archived from the original on 2024-02-07. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  21. ^ Hall, Margaret (2024-02-07). "Trans Icon, Artist, and Activist Cecilia Gentili Dies at 52". Playbill. Archived from the original on 2024-02-08. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  22. ^ Hamilton, Colleen (2023-06-29). "This All-Trans Music Festival Offered a Taste of Liberation". Them. Archived from the original on 2024-02-07. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
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