Hi, it's Amara. Before we get to today's show, I want to take a moment to honor

Cecilia gently, a powerful and critical voice in our community and in the fight for the human

rights and dignity of everyone, a woman who gifted us with her performance artistry and

her vision, a light in this dark world

that we lost too soon.

Cecilia was everywhere where there was need, an advocate for trans liberation, and documented

migrants and sex workers, an award-winning author, an actress performing a one-woman show who also made

a regular appearance in the groundbreaking series Pose. Her contributions are too many into

name here, but include being the policy director at a queer health and HIV service organization

called GMHC. She assembled a coalition to end the criminalization of sex work in New York State called

D-CrimNY and successfully took on the Trump administration's anti-trans health care rules,

guaranteeing continued access for trans people across the United States.

And these accomplishments barely scratched the surface of what she did and who she touched.

On a personal note, I can't remember the first time I met Cecilia, nor the first time I ever

heard her name.

Perhaps it's because she's been an ever-present, powerful force in our community for so long that it's hard

to imagine any time without her. But even though I can't remember the first time I met her,

what I do know is that she was always and shall remain unforgettable. Her laugh, wit, intelligence,

sexiness, bonnyness, and sheer grit were all

outsized. No matter what room she was in nor who was in it, Cecilia stood out for all of the

right reasons. She remains one of the shrewdest people I know. Cecilia got so much done on behalf of trans people because she knew where power lay,

how to sell to it, and how to get it to do what she wanted.

...