Cecilia Gentili, author, actress, and sex worker and transgender advocate, died at the age of 52. “Our beloved Cecilia Gentili passed away this morning to continue watching over us in spirit,†her Instagram page wrote on Tuesday afternoon. “Please be gentle with each other and love one another with ferocity.†Gentili immigrated from Argentina to the United States to live a safer life as an openly transgender woman. She supported herself in New York City through sex work, where she was exposed to drug abuse, and eventually became incarcerated at Rikers in 2009. All of this led to the creation of Trans Equity Consulting in 2019, an organization she founded dedicated to uplifting transwomen of color and “centering of sex workers, immigrants and incarcerated peoples as experts in creating a more just world.â€
Gentili was no stranger to the arts; she starred as Miss Orlando on Pose and premiered her own one-woman show, Red Ink, last year. With Trans Equity Consulting, she created TRANSMISSION, NYC’s first transgender music festival. She documented the first 17 years of her life in Argentina in her memoir, Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist, filled with eight letters to people who shaped her childhood, winning the Israel Fishman Nonfiction Award. “Cecilia Gentili’s death is such a huge loss. She impacted so many, especially those in the trans community in New York City and beyond. This is the power of one person who used her identity and gifts to help more people be seen and heard,†wrote GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis on her death. Below are more tributes to Gentili.