Cecilia Gentili's legacy lives on as trans Latinx group receives first-ever HRC grant (exclusive)

Cecilia Gentili's work still persists, even after her passing.

The Human Rights Campaign has just announced the launch of the Cecilia Gentili grant, in partnership with the late trans activist’s organization, Transgender Equity Consulting. The award aims to assist organizations continuing the advocacy work of Gentili, aiding trans women of color, sex workers, immigrants, and the formerly incarcerated.

"Cecilia was a warrior, she was a fighter, she was a sister," Tori Cooper, director of the HRC's Trans Justice Initiative, told The Advocate. "She was an amazing advocate for a lot of different causes and communities that she represented, and just for folks who needed stuff to get done. ... The world is going to miss who she is and all the the amazing things that she still had yet to birth."

Cooper said that the scholarship "was an opportunity for us to honor Cecilia's legacy" while working with the organization she "created and worked very hard to ensure would be would be able to provide the support that she needed and that other people needed in a variety of different ways."

The first-ever Cecilia Gentili grant has been awarded to Alianza Translatinx, the first Latiné-focused trans-led advocacy group in the Orange County area. Cooper explained that the HRC AND TEC believed ATL "would be a great organization to receive the inaugural decision to live because they represent so much of who she was."

"It's not a lot of money, but it is enough money that trans Latin-serving, Latin-run organizations who are doing advocacy work, can impact some of the work that they're already doing, and perhaps create something new," she said.

Cooper also noted that the grant is "not tied to any deliverables like a traditional grant would be, because we wanted to make sure that we're investing in them in a way that Cecilia would." She emphasized: "We trust organizations that she trusted."

"Cecilia's legacy must continue, and the legacy of people who are doing good work for our trans community, it must continue as well," Cooper said. "Any time folks hear the name, the Cecilia Gentili Award, for folks who may not be familiar with her directly, it provides an opportunity for them to learn about her, to Google her, to find out information about the work and the impact that she left."

Though it's not just organizations that can continue Gentili's legacy — Cooper, who knew the activist personally before her tragic death in February, encouraged others to "do what Cecilia would do" and "ask the people in their community what they need most," as she asserted it's "important that people use the gifts that they have to help and support trans and gender-expansive people and trans and gender-expansive movements across the country."

"If you get in touch with trans and gender-expansive folks in your community, they'll tell you the things that they need," Cooper said. "They may need books for book drives, clothing, computers for computer labs and job readiness programs. It's important to find out what's necessary in your community because communities all the all across the country will have different needs and different priorities."

"There's an old adage — when talking about the civil rights movement — certainly there were some amazing folks who were in the streets, but there were also folks who didn't March, who were at home frying chicken, who were creating the signs that people use when they were on a National Mall," she continued. "So, if sign-building is your gift, or frying chicken is your gift, or if writing a check is your gift, then do all of those things and do them with the right intention and do them often."