“A Mother to Us All”: Cecilia Gentili, Remembered by Her Friends and Family
Scene from the funeral of Cecilia Gentili, photographed by Justin J Wee.
Shortly before she passed away last week at the age of 52, the beloved actor, writer, and trans activist Cecilia Gentili appeared in this very magazine to discuss her recent one-woman show, Red Ink. She was thinking deeply about her relationship to god, a through line of the show, and seemed to have finally found peace, living in a brand-new house upstate. “I just never had opportunities to experience a faith that was fully embracing of me,” Gentili told Harron Walker. “I came to identify as an atheist, but I know that so many trans people have been able to find a relationship with faith in spaces that include them.”
Many of them, in fact, found faith with Cecilia herself, whose lifelong advocacy for sex workers and those with HIV/AIDS made her a trailblazer. At her funeral last Thursday, held at the St. Patricks Cathedral, more than 1,400 mourners came out to honor her life and legacy. “She was the embodiment of community and was a force for good and justice,” said Eliel Cruz. Justin J Wee photographed dozens of them, who spoke to us affectionately and reverently about the woman they knew as mother.
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RAQUEL WILLIS
“St. Cecilia Gentili was an unapologetic example of joy, pleasure, strength, and power. She was determined to show all of society’s outcasts, including immigrants, queers, trans folks, sex workers, and so many more that we are sacred and deserving of dignity.”
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YVES MATHIEU
“My look is inspired by Black Western and Black American history for Black History Month. My favorite Cecilia quote is, ‘I want all the faggotry and tranny behavior.’”
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QWEEN JEAN & SARA RAMIREZ
SR: “It’s on us to keep her legacy alive, which is about protecting human beings, about humanizing everyone, about continuing to fight for trans rights and sex workers’ rights. Sex work is work. Cecilia was very much for Palestinian freedom, so I am wearing a keffiyeh today. I’m wearing a little watermelon slice pendant as well. I’m here to carry Cecilia’s legacy forward and celebrate her life and really hold space for everyone else here today.”
QJ: “This is a custom crown and a veil, and I’m wearing a keffiyeh in solidarity with the people of Palestine, who are literally being terrorized and bombed in this moment. At her birthday party, her last words were ‘Free free Palestine,’ and so I wanted to honor her legacy, and also honor the fight for collective freedom and collective liberation.”
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ITA SEGEV
“Honestly, she was just a possibility and a frequency of life. Her spirit and politics matched in this way that let you be entirely yourself and imagined a world where everyone could exist freely.”
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CARLYN COWEN
“Cecilia taught me about showing up as my authentic self and being loving in the movement work. And cursing. She was an aunt to me, a mentor.”
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RÍO SOFIA
“Cecilia was an icon, a revolutionary, a mother to us all. She is someone that will go down in history as a saint to our community. And she will live forever.”
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MAYA MARGARITA
“I’m wearing a vintage Galliano suit that I only pull out for the most special occasions of my life. It’s powder blue periwinkle with white pinstripes and some holographic shoes — just to give some drama. Like, she would’ve wanted the girls to show up. She means joy to me and power in dreaming and dreaming in power. And she means love to me and she means magic and warmth, and I love her very much.”
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TOMÁS MATOS
“Cecilia to me was the true definition of mother. She was the matriarch to all the trannies here in the city, and honestly all the trannies in the world. When I met Cecilia, I remember being a little nervous because I was in the presence of an icon, and the way she just welcomed me with such open arms truly was the perfect example of that warm hug that you want from the community. She put such a lasting impression on all of us too, and I feel like we’re taking the reins pretty beautifully, and her legacy is definitely going to live the fuck on in all of us and all of the work. And every time that I put on a heel, bitch, and every time that I suck a dick, bitch, I’m going to be like, ‘Y’all, Cecilia would be proud.'”
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ELIEL CRUZ
“Cecilia was a movement, mother, and mentor. She was the embodiment of community and was a force for good and justice. We had worked on multiple campaigns together, including supporting the family of Layleen Polanco in the aftermath of her death at Rikers Island. She emceed that initial vigil in her memory and many more after that. She cared for the girls––the dolls––and did so much behind the scenes, more than people know, for her community. And she did it while bringing joy and laughter to everyone she touched. It was a great honor to know and love her. The movement, NYC’s LGBTQ community, and myself personally, will forever be changed by her absence.”
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BOBBI SALVÖ MENUEZ
“Cecilia was everything.”
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HAZYL
“Cecilia was, for a lot of trans and gender non-conforming people, and sex workers, just a reflection of the possibility of what we could be. She always championed the young trans and non-binary, gender non-conforming people coming up. She said she lived for the girls, and she really did. And looking out at everyone that showed up for her, how diverse, how beautiful everyone is, it’s just a reflection of the community that she championed. I want to take an ounce of her exuberance and her energy and her power, and be able to speak for our trans sisters, our sex working sisters and brothers and non-binary folks, and continue her journey of love, and not putting up with bullshit, and being sexy.”
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ADAM ELI & ADAM CHARLAP HYMAN
“Among the many important things that Cecilia has taught us, we are remembering what she said about love in the dedication of her book, Faltas, which reads, ‘This book is for Peter who has been showing me for ten years (and continues showing me everyday) that the idea that ‘love hurts’ is absolute bullshit.’ We love you, Cecilia.”
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FRAN TIRADO
“I’m showing my entire ass today, with a corset, bra, and garters, in the largest and most renowned cathedral in the country, because that’s what my mother would have wanted. One of the first things she ever said to me was, “You are a real whore,” and she was right about that. My mother saw me and saw us. Cecilia wanted to be remembered, first and foremost, as a very hot woman. In her honor, we’re turning up the sexy. Today is a major event, a disruption, and that’s at her request. When she was alive, she said she wanted her funeral to be full of dramatics, people screaming. Today we screamed. Cecilia!”
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GIA LOVE
“Cecilia is the overall mother! She loved her children unconditionally. I will forever be grateful for having Cecilia in my life. I now know that I deserve love just because I exist. Cecilia’s legacy and impact on the world endures.”
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PEPPERMINT
“Cecilia dazzled many as an actress and entertainer, she nurtured many as a mother and healthcare advocate, but most of all she set me on an irreversible and noble path thanks to her activism and spirit of protest. All of those elements were thriving and swirling around St Patrick’s Cathedral.”
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DEVIN-NORELLE
“Cecilia is the mother, the auntie, the sibling we all needed growing up. She guided us, she cared for us, and loved us unconditionally.”
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JARI JONES
“Cecilia was our Midas, except everything she touched turned to flowers. Like seedlings in the cracks of the concrete jungle, she showered us with unconditional love, with unwavering support, with consistent affirmation and with overflowing courage. En un jardín crecen más cosas que las que siembra la jardinera—more things grow in a garden than what the gardener plants.”
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IMAN LE CAIRE
“Cecilia changed my world with love and compassion. She inspired me as a fierce activist, and a relentless advocate, and was a most reliable friend whenever I needed one. She was what every trans activist should be or aspire to be.”
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