Photo Courtesy of Interview Mag by Oscar Diaz
With Cecilia’s passing just this month, it’s with a heavy heart that I write this article for Cool Trans Girl. While I did not know Cecilia on a personal level, I had often thought about the day that I would be able to interview her as one of the coolest trans girls in herstory. Not only that but be able to collaborate with her as Cool Trans Girl began to grow.
I feel like the least I could do is highlight the legacy she has left on the trans community. Not only that but talk about how we can honor her moving forward. This is the life and legacy of Saint Cecilia.
The Story of St. Cecilia…
I feel I cannot speak on the full gravity of what shaped Saint Cecilia so I’m going to be as brief and concise as possible.
Cecilia was born and raised in Argentina where she had been condemned and abused. In search of a better life she moved to Brasil and shortly thereafter to Miami.
As a lot of trans woman have (myself included) Cecilia had relied on sex work as her primary income.
With the inherent challenges of being an undocumented immigrant and transgender sex worker, Cecilia had been in and out of jail on account of a broken criminal justice system.
In 2009 she had been imprisoned at Rikers where she could not be safely housed with women or men (duh).
She was eventually released and granted asylum and began her work as a community organizer, activist, and began pursuing her dreams as an actress.
Life & Legacy After Asylum
Cecilia Made the World a Better Place
Saint Cecilia sought to make the world a better place for the most marginalized members of society.
After having been through so much leading up to asylum, it is truly inspirational she was able to channel that experience into such a dynamic and remarkable career.
Here are a few of her professional achievements as an activist…
- In 2010, Gentili began an internship at The LGBT Center, where she began working with the NYC Anti-Violence Project.
- From 2012 until 2016, she was the trans health program coordinator at the Apicha Community Health Center in New York City.
- 2016-2019 Saint Cecilia served as 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.
- She championed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, a proposed piece of state legislation which was eventually signed into law in 2019.
- She led the DecrimNY campaign, which helped to decriminalize sex work in New York
- Successfully 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.
- She was also a core leader behind the Lorena Borjas Trans Equity Fund, which provided $1.8 million to organizations serving transgender people.
- 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.
- Served as Board of Directors of Stonewall Community Foundation, a New York-based, LGBTQ-focused grant making organization, where she served until her death.
- In 2020, she hosted Fierce Futures, a fundraiser supporting organizations that aid Black trans people.
- In 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services removed provisions in the Affordable Care Act on sex discrimination, which included gender identity, Gentili and Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker brought a lawsuit against the department of health & human services arguing the rule “directly contravenes” the Supreme Court ruling.
- 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
- 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.
And some of her creative pursuits…
- Saint Cecilia mounted The Knife Cuts Both Ways, a comedic one-woman show based on light-hearted stories from her life.
- She also starred in Pose, as Miss Orlando
- 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.
- She debuted her autobiographical off-Broadway show loosely based on the book, Red Ink, in 2023. She had planned to reprise the show in April 2024.
- In 2023, she created and co-organized “Transmissions Fest”, the first all-trans music festival in NYC, with the proceeds going to LGBTQ+ charities
How do we honor Saint Cecilias life and legacy moving forward?
After going through what one of the longest tunnels of pain. Saint Cecilia emerged as one of the coolest trans girls to have ever lived. She never forgot her roots and didn’t leave anyone behind when it came to advocacy. She created a better world for so many and brought so much light into the trans community.
Saint Cecilia pursued her dreams ruthlessly, anything she wanted to do she did it. Highlighting Saint Cecilia I hope will inspire other cool trans girls to go after everything they want in life. I hope that these other girls will see that their past does not define them and that they can change their trajectory at any point in their life.
When it comes to honoring her memory I believe there are a few things we can do. The first being, staying strong in the face of adversity, to continue to live proudly. To be unapologetically trans, sexy, bubbly, and vivacious just as she was. To not let cis people determine what context or spaces we should live in. Or tell us what we can and cannot do.
The second thing we can do, is to fight for one another. To not leave any other trans person behind. I’m talking to those of us who are particularly privileged. We have to continue to organize and build stronger ties within our community. None of us are liberated until all of us are liberated.
Thirdly I would say is to not take our time here on this earth for granted. Compared to an unfortunate amount of trans women. Cecilia lived a comparatively long and fulfilling life. And even then she was barely in her fifties.
So many trans women don’t make it to that age whether it’s because they chose to end their own life, were murdered in cold blood, or didn’t have access to life sustaining resources.
Lastly we can honor St. Cecilia by donating to Cecilia’s Legacy fund, organized by her chosen family and Trans Equity Staff.
Cecilia & Sainthood
The community has bestowed sainthood on Cecilia for her extreme efforts in creating a more equitable world for all people. Not just the trans community. She is truly one of the most remarkable creatures to have ever lived and I send all of my love to her grieving friends and family. I can’t imagine the pain they must be going through.
And to Saint Cecilia I know she is smiling down on us as a community, she has created a strong foundation for us to continue to build upon.
Rest in Peace and Power St Cecilia <3
