On February 29, a large crowd came together New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral as a truly catholic congregation, a diverse, all inclusive group united in the single purpose of paying their respects to the memory of Cecilia Gentili, In this gathering, they greatly resembled the diverse population of New York City, and perhaps of the human race itself.

Cecilia endured hardships that few of us can even imagine! Born in Gálvez, Santa Fe, Argentina, she was sexually abused from the age of six, by a neighbor. She accepted being gay at age 12, and was essentially rejected by her church and her family, except for her loving grandmother.

Because of her sexual orientation, she was frequently physically attacked on the streets, sometimes by local authorities, and finally, at age 26, identified as a woman and moved to Miami to find a better life in the United States.

Here she found less than a warm welcome. She had difficulty finding a legal job due to not having a legal status. She was eventually arrested for prostitution and placed in a male jail. Over the next five years, she struggled with drug addiction, engaged in sex work, spent more time in prison where she was assulted by both men and woman, and faced a deportation order. Fortunately, she was granted asylum in the United States in 2011 after moving to New York, she legally changed her name, entered an addiction recovery program. and became a U.S. citizen in September 2022.

In 2010, Cecilia 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. From 2016 to 2019, she was the Director of Policy at the GMHC center, the world's first organization dedicated to HIV/AIDS prevention. She championed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act that was signed into law in 2019. She was active in the formation of and led the DecrimNY campaign sponsored by Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS) to decriminalize sex work in New York and successfully repealed the "Walking while trans law," that often unfairly targeted, harassed, and arrested transgender women of color.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, Cecilia founded Trans Equity Consulting, a development consulting firm that sought to help trans women of color, immigrants, sex workers, and incarcerated people. That year, she also joined the Board of Directors of Stonewall Community Foundation, a New York-based, LGBTQ-focused grantmaking organization. There she served until her death from unknown causes on February 6, 2024, at the age of 52. In 2020, she hosted Fierce Futures, a fundraiser supporting organization that aids Black trans people, and co-founded the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, the first dedicated healthcare center for sex workers on the East Coast.

Those present were joined in mourning her passing by public accolades from GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, the ACLU National LGBT & HIV Project's deputy director for Transgender Justice, Chase Strangio, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Callen-Lorde CEO, Patrick McGovern, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, and fellow TV actors such as Angelica Ross and MJ Rodriguez.

Throughout her life, Cecilia Gentili demonstrated by her generous acts her love of her neighbors, the one commandment of Christianity. She worked tirelessly to reverse the effects of hardship and unjust discrimination suffered by and as a member of the LGBTQ community, perhaps our fellows most in need of love, support and understanding. The gathering in St. Peter's was not only a testimony of her many accomplishments in that regard, but also a demonstration of the power of love itself. She is dearly loved because she loved dearly. This world is certainly a better place because of her demonstration of that power within each of us, both as individuals, and as the human society of which we are all a part.

And it is, perhaps, a poorer place, now that she is gone!

John Lindorfer

PS: Several news media reported that the funeral was condemned by The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and its archbishop, Timothy M. Dolan, who claimed that "The trouble started because of the irreverence and the disrespect of the big crowd that was there

None of the news articles I have seen tells what "the trouble" actually was. Absent other information, and drawing upon my personal experiences with such things, I tentatively conclude that somebody made the decision that "the wrong kind of people" were at the funeral, which was cut short. If so, the gathering might have been "catholic," but it doesn't seem very Christian to me.

What would Jesus have done...do you suppose?