Lorena's 'Alcance'

Latino USA

My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When pioneering trans activist Lorena Borjas first arrived in the U.S. in late May of 1981, she found both community and an epidemic. Through her experiences on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, NY, Lorena developed a personal approach to connect trans Latinas and trans sex workers to critical medical and legal resources. Decades later, it would be another massive health crisis — COVID-19 — that would take the life of this beloved community leader, putting into stark relief her vast legacy. Now, her closest friends paint an intergenerational portrait of Lorena, as a trailblazer, a mentor, and a mother.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Maria Inojosa and I am Penileira Mides.
0:03.0	And on this new series, we're going to get to know the most powerful Mexican government official ever to face trial in the US for his alleged ties to the infamous drug lord El Chapo.
0:16.0	But this is not your regular narco story.
0:19.0	It's like true crime meets telenovela.
0:22.0	This is our new series, USA versus Garcia Luna.
0:27.0	Find it whatever you get your podcasts and at futuroinvestigates.org.
0:39.0	Uranus Phon was always on and she was the one that would go to get you out of general life.
0:45.0	This woman who was told to be safe, she became like a mother.
0:51.0	Her ability to help people escape trafficking situations, abusive situations, unsafe situations with the police.
0:58.0	I've never seen anyone like that before and I doubt I will ever see anyone again.
1:02.0	From FuturoMedia, it's Latino USA, I'm Maria Inojosa.
1:12.0	Today, one year after her passing, we remember the life and explore the legacy of Lorena Borjas.
1:19.0	She's known as the mother of the trans Latina community in Queens, New York.
1:25.0	Originally from a small town in the coastal state of Veracruz, Mexico,
1:30.0	Lorena arrived in the United States in May of 1981, just a few days before her 21st birthday.
1:37.0	Less than a month later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1:42.0	announced the first two months of the year.
1:46.0	The first month of the year was the first month of the year.
1:51.0	The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the first recorded case
1:56.0	of a new and lethal virus spreading in the United States.
2:01.0	Which shows that the lifestyle of some male homosexuals has triggered an epidemic of a rare form of cancer.
2:09.0	This newscast from 1981 and the media at large portrayed HIV and AIDS as the gay illness.
	...

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