New York City’s queer and transgender community is demanding an apology after the Archdiocese of New York condemned the funeral of late transgender leader Cecilia Gentili held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral last week. Some 1,500 people gathered at St. Patrick’s to pay tribute to Gentili, a beloved activist, author and actor who dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of sex workers, LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities. This is Ceyenne Doroshow, community leader and founder of GLITS, Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society, responding to the recent attacks by the church.

Ceyenne Doroshow: “So, what they’re not telling you, a transparent Catholic Diocese, is that canon law was her right to a free and equal funeral. She was not given that. It was cut. We heard it on the mics. The world needs to know. … Cecilia’s legacy, if I have to say anything, was her work. And without her work, a lot of kids would have failed. They would have died. They would have been on the side of the road. My work is about saving people, sustaining people, getting people in college, in schools, in housing. Is the Catholic Diocese doing that? Is the Catholic Diocese creating better people to be better leaders, to be better icons? Because we are doing that as a community. The Catholic Church needs to be ashamed of itself, period.”