REMARKS
Council Member Cabán introduces resolution honoring Cecilia Gentili
2:03:03
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128 sec
Council Member Tiffany Cabán introduces a resolution to honor the late Cecilia Gentili, a trans icon and advocate for sex workers' rights. Cabán praises Gentili's impact on the queer community and her fearless approach to justice.
- Cabán describes Gentili as a fearless leader, author, actress, and pioneering advocate for sex workers' dignity and freedom.
- The resolution is introduced alongside other queer colleagues and comes at a time of increasing discrimination against marginalized communities.
- Cabán emphasizes Gentili's continued influence in the queer community and her unapologetic, funny, and sharp personality.
Tiffany Cabán
2:03:03
Thank you.
2:03:03
Today I have the privilege of introducing a resolution, alongside a number of my queer colleagues, that honors the late great Cecilia Gentile.
2:03:12
I've said this before, but Cecilia was everything and she did it all.
2:03:16
She was a fearless leader, a trans icon, an author, an actress, a pioneering advocate for the dignity and freedom of sex workers, and so much more.
2:03:24
And especially at a time where we are going to see the ramping up of the oppression, the repression, and the discrimination against not just queer people but other already marginalized, identities, I think about her more and more.
2:03:39
And I'm not alone in that.
2:03:40
We did our, you know, meetings in every single borough, yes, including Staten Island, meeting with queer folks and organizations and social workers and academics and advocates and, community members.
2:03:55
And there wasn't a single one of these conversations where her name wasn't brought up.
2:04:00
We go out to actions.
2:04:01
We meet with, queer community members who are just trying to take care of each other and protect one another, and her name and her spirit, and her and her impact always comes up, and that's pretty, pretty incredible.
2:04:14
I know that there were plenty of people who brought her spirit and her energy to DC just yesterday, when Queen's own first out trans, lawyer argued in front of the Supreme Court.
2:04:27
She was unabashedly vocal about just justice in January in general, and her energy was infectious.
2:04:34
She was profoundly funny and sharp.
2:04:36
She was unapologetically herself.
2:04:38
I loved the way that she came in hard with just profanity laced everything, but it was always the truth.
2:04:46
And I love the joy and the the love that she brought to the other people in her world.
2:04:51
I really, really miss her.
2:04:53
And, you know, I think that, now is an incredible time not just to honor her, but to say rise in power, to say that your memory should be a joyous, bawdy, hilarious, visionary, fearless revolution, and that this resolution may serve as a testament to that revolution.
2:05:08
So I hope my colleagues will sign on.
2:05:10
Thank you.
