That which is called a genius and a figure goes to the grave that cannot even be painted with Cecilia Gentili. In life she made people talk and once she was dead she tied it up with the most sacred. On Thursday, February 15, more than a thousand people attended her funeral at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, a religious and tourist landmark on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, headquarters of the Archdiocese of New York.
In addition to being an actress (Miss Orlando in the television series Pose), Gentili was a renowned transgender activist and former prostitute, who fought for the rights of those who change their gender identity, for sex workers and those living with the virus. AIDS. She was also a recognized atheist, a theme around which she built a solo Off Broadway theater show.
He died on February 6 in New York, at the age of 52, a city where he enjoyed popularity. He was born as a man in Argentina, where he already came out of the closet. She received asylum in the United States in 2012, according to the local press, after living undocumented for more than a decade, a circumstance for which she used his experiences and energies to help other people in situations similar to hers.
The funeral at Saint Patrick did not leave anyone indifferent. The temple is one of the main references of Catholicism in the United States. Not so long ago, at the height of the contagion of the virus that stigmatized gays, this temple maintained a combative stance against homosexuality and the use of condoms, an opposition that angered the group. That he now allowed the funeral was interpreted as a gesture of openness and contrition. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who at the time was rumored to be a possible pope, maintained that the Church should be more welcoming to homosexuals.
Many of those attending the farewell were transgender people. Daring outfits predominated, bright miniskirts and low-cut, sleeveless shirts, fishnet stockings or fur stoles. Reminder cards and photographs next to the altar, near the coffin, in which Gentili seemed to be touched with a halo, along with signs, written in Spanish, in which the words “transvestite”, “whore”, “blessed” and “mother” above the text of Psalm 25 (“To you, O Lord, I will lift up my soul…”).
The images aroused numerous criticisms from the conservative Catholic sector, who interpreted that they had scored a goal for the entire squad against the Church.
God is everywhere, he hears and sees everything, but, from what has emerged, those responsible for the Archdiocese of New York do not know half of the mass.
So this weekend, the cathedral celebrated what has been described as a “strange mass” to “repair” the mess caused by Gentili's funeral, considering the “scandalous conduct” of those who attended that posthumous tribute.
The parish priest, the Rev. Enrique Salvo, said that, at the request of Cardinal Dolan, a mass was offered to pray for forgiveness after what many Catholics considered a desecration.
“Thank you to all of you who have sent us and shared our indignation at the funeral that was held here in Sant Patrick,” he said. “The cathedral was only aware of the request from family and friends to celebrate that funeral and knew nothing that our welcome and prayers would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and misleading manner,” Reverend Salvo stressed in a statement. The cardinal has not commented directly on the matter of controversy.
The priests who held the service were told not to say at any time that Gentili was transgender. Archdiocese spokesman Joe Zwelling said the church had no problem with the sexual identity of the deceased, but with the actions of the mourners.
There were numerous complaints from parishioners on social media, both about the clothing and the “rude” language used on the altar itself during the tributes. She didn't like that they treated her deceased as a saint or that they covered a Catholic song to honor the LGBTQ community. And Gentili, in eternity, enjoyed her last performance.
