1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,160 Speaker 1: Serena's phone was always on and she was the one 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:09,040 Speaker 1: that would go to get you out of Jailaia, keeping 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: me safe. She became like a mother. 4 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 2: Her ability to help people escape trafficking situations, abusive situations, 5 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 2: unsafe situations. 6 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 3: With the police. 7 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 2: I've never seen anyone like that before, and I doubt 8 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 2: I will ever see anyone again. 9 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 4: From Futuro Media, It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria Rosa. Today, 10 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 4: one year after her passing, we remember the life and 11 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,519 Speaker 4: explore the legacy of Lorena Borjas. She's known as the 12 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 4: mother of the trans Latina community in Queens, New York. 13 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 4: Originally from a small town in the coastal state of 14 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 4: Vera Cruz, Mexico, Lorena arrived in the United States in 15 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,559 Speaker 4: May of nineteen eighty one, just a few days before 16 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 4: her twenty first birthday. Less than a month later, the 17 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 4: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the first recorded 18 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 4: case of a new and lethal virus spreading in the 19 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 4: United States. 20 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 5: Which shows as a lifestyle of some male homosexuals has 21 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 5: triggered an epidemic of a rare form of cancer. 22 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 4: This newscast from nineteen eighty one and the media at 23 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 4: large portrayed HIV and AIDS as the gay illness, some 24 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 4: reporters even calling it gay cancer. But even as the 25 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 4: deathol from AIDS grew in the following years, little was 26 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 4: being done to provide much needed treatment. 27 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 5: The demonstration was carefully choreographed by act UP, a two 28 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 5: year old coalition of gay groups set up to fight 29 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 5: what they called the governments in actions and silence on 30 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 5: aid We. 31 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 6: Have to let people know that there's an edge crisis, 32 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 6: that people are. 33 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 2: Dying, that we need money, that we need healthcare. 34 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 4: While the AIDS epidemic is recognized as a catalyst for 35 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 4: organizing in the LGBTQ community, trans immigrant women are often 36 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 4: left out of the narrative. In nineteen ninety five, at 37 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 4: the peak of the epidemic, Dorena, who had become HIV positive, 38 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 4: began what she called her Alcanse, or her outreach. She 39 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:40,919 Speaker 4: was distributing condoms to trans immigrant sex workers in Queens, 40 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 4: New York. It was a means of not only addressing 41 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 4: the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, but also a way 42 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 4: of connecting trans immigrants to critical medical and legal services. 43 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 4: After decades of work building networks of mutual aid, it 44 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:02,799 Speaker 4: would be another massive health crisis COVID nineteen that would 45 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 4: finally take the life of this beloved community leader. Today 46 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:12,399 Speaker 4: on our show, The Story of Lorenez Alcanse. It's an 47 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 4: intergenerational portrait of a pioneering activist, and we're going to 48 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 4: see her life through the eyes of the women who 49 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 4: knew her as a mother and as a sister in 50 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 4: their struggle to tell this story. Here's producer Julia Rocha. 51 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 7: It's March a, twenty eighteen International Women's Day. Lorena sits 52 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 7: at a Duncan Donuts on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights. 53 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 7: Queen's the neighborhood that she's lived and worked in for 54 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 7: forty years. 55 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 8: Oh so you no. 56 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 3: Latina trance? Get Luca le Filla pla Sola. 57 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 7: Lorena calls herself a survivor, a trans Latina who's overcome 58 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 7: many opsts in her life. It's almost nine pm. She 59 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 7: looks tired after a full day of work, but her 60 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 7: day is far from over. The backseat of her car 61 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,119 Speaker 7: is full of boxes with condoms that she'll soon hand 62 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 7: out to sex workers in the neighborhood. She's talking to 63 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 7: Sophia Serra Campero one of the producers of this story. 64 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 9: Yea. 65 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 10: Kiriau firmonaetaua Charois. 66 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,280 Speaker 7: Ladna remembers growing up in cosam A, Lapan. At twelve 67 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:42,920 Speaker 7: years old, she was learning to put on makeup and 68 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 7: loved to secretly try on her sister's clothes. Her family 69 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 7: often called her a hotel, which is a derogatory term 70 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 7: for gay. One day, they caught her in her sister's 71 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 7: clothes and beat her. At just fourteen, she moved to 72 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,040 Speaker 7: Mexico City on her own, where she would meet her 73 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 7: first trans. 74 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 3: Friends, Mexican Lucca. 75 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 7: Lorena says that her friends used to call her Luca, 76 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 7: and while she found community in Mexico City, she also 77 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 7: found danger and discrimination. 78 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:24,600 Speaker 10: The onficiala in Nomcho cam Ma mier va pola. 79 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 7: Criminacio, Lorena says that one day five men forced her 80 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 7: to the top of a building and threatened to throw 81 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 7: her off the rooftop. She still hadn't transitioned and was 82 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:38,839 Speaker 7: terrified that the violence would only get worse when her 83 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 7: body changed. In nineteen eighty one, some of her friends 84 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 7: had come to the US to access gender affirming medical treatment, 85 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 7: and they encouraged Lorena to do the same. Just a 86 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 7: few days before turning twenty one, Lorena across the border. 87 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 7: Lmite americanase I feel more American than those who were 88 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 7: born here, says Lorena. 89 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 3: Achi biseper achiepel del. 90 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 10: You feel a chiepel di alfadoro Luca fin Sectary on 91 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 10: the priminal Bolica inober for a PASEAQI in America, where 92 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 10: tast me pahive. 93 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 7: Lorena says that in the US she became strong. It 94 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 7: was in the US that she learned about sex, work, drugs, alcoholism, 95 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 7: So she says, if she went through all of that here, 96 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:41,039 Speaker 7: then this is her country. Lonna's first job as an 97 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 7: undocumented immigrant was assembling furniture at a factory. She made 98 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 7: just enough to rent a room in Queens and buy 99 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 7: subway tokens. Then, in November of nineteen eighty six, a 100 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 7: stroke of. 101 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 6: Luck, This bill, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 102 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:58,680 Speaker 6: nineteen eighty six, that I was signed in a few 103 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 6: minutes is the most comprehensive reform of our immigration laws 104 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 6: since nineteen fifty two. 105 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:09,040 Speaker 7: Lorena secured legal residency in the US through Ronald Reagan's 106 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 7: immigration amnesty. With her new papers in hand, she applied 107 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 7: to Medicaid and began her hormone treatment. She was able 108 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 7: to get a legal work permit, a new job at 109 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 7: a belt factory, and eventually a scholarship to Turo College, 110 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 7: where she studied accounting. After school, Lorena would hang out 111 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 7: at Port Authority bus terminal. 112 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: Back then, you know, we didn't really have a lot 113 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: of places to like hang out. 114 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 7: That's Christina Herrera. She's an immigrant from mel Salvador and 115 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:44,560 Speaker 7: one of Lorena's oldest friends. Aside from being one of 116 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 7: the country's busiest bus terminals, Gristina remembers Port Authority felt 117 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 7: like a mercado, a fast paced, lively gathering place, and 118 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 7: one of the few places where trans people didn't feel 119 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 7: as targeted by the police. It was in Port of 120 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 7: author that a friend introduced her to Lorena in nineteen 121 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 7: eighty six. 122 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: She had a big smile on her face, she had 123 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: a pile of books on her hands, a big bag, 124 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 1: you know, hanging from her shoulder, and she had a 125 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: pencil on her ear, very like schoolgirl. 126 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 7: Christina was fifteen years old, and Lorena's schoolgirl look stood 127 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 7: out to her. At the time, higher education a career 128 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 7: all felt out of grasp back then. 129 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: Like our reality was Okay, so you're here in New York. 130 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 1: You're gonna do sex work in order to begin your 131 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: transition for the hormones and surgeries. 132 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 7: It was a reality. She started noticing around Port Authority. 133 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, like around ten pm, 134 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: you would see this tall, slim Caribbean trans women walking 135 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:57,559 Speaker 1: down with galleras like Muheronas from Port Authority. 136 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 7: They would catch the seven train to Roosevelt Avenue in 137 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 7: Jackson Heights, Queens. 138 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:04,719 Speaker 1: One night, I'm like, so where are you going and 139 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: stepping and they're like, are we going to work? 140 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 7: Roosevelt Avenue had become a hub for sex work. 141 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,839 Speaker 11: When you look up and Roosevelt Avenue, you don't see 142 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 11: the moon and the start, you see the seventh train. 143 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 7: That's Cecilia and Dilly, who will hear more from later. 144 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 7: She's describing the elevated train tracks the tower above Roosevelt Avenue. 145 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,839 Speaker 11: And it's very very very non You see a lot 146 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 11: of taxis and a lot of black cars, food cars 147 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:42,959 Speaker 11: with tackles and banadas, and a lot of people very 148 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 11: very drunk because they are coming out of so many 149 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 11: little bars. When doors open from the bars you hear music, 150 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 11: and as the door is closing, the music goes away, 151 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 11: so it's a beautiful KOs. 152 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,440 Speaker 7: As Lorena began to transition, she felt less and less 153 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 7: accepted at her place of employment, and in nineteen eighty nine, 154 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:15,680 Speaker 7: she decided to leave the belt factory With a meager 155 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 7: unemployment check, Lorena found herself two months behind on rent. 156 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 7: A woman that she knew offered to help get her 157 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 7: money doing sex work. The woman began arranging clients for 158 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 7: her in exchange for a cut of her profits. Lorena 159 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 7: says she was coerced to meet with ten clients a 160 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 7: night and had no idea how much money was being 161 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 7: cut from her earnings. Blindley Edges, the legal director at 162 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 7: Transgender Law Center and an attorney who would represent Lorena 163 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 7: years later, says that these kind of situations were common with. 164 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:59,599 Speaker 2: The combination of discrimination, inability to access employment, inability to 165 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:03,199 Speaker 2: access housing, inability to access safety in general, it creates 166 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 2: a higher likelihood of being victimized, whether it's in an 167 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 2: abusive romantic relationship, familial relationship, or what I have seen 168 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,760 Speaker 2: extensively becoming a victim of human trafficking. 169 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,560 Speaker 7: During this time, Lorena was also a victim to abusive 170 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 7: partnerships where she was forced to do sex work. 171 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 2: Trans people are very rarely identified as victims of human trafficking, 172 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:25,839 Speaker 2: even when the information is right there in front of 173 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,599 Speaker 2: law enforcement, social service providers, and attorneys. 174 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 7: Her friends say it would be years before Lorena recognized 175 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 7: herself as a survivor of human trafficking. 176 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:40,959 Speaker 3: Victor are you formed for the film moment? 177 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 7: Lorena says. It was then that she began to use drugs, 178 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:51,199 Speaker 7: many times provided by her clients who would pay extra 179 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:55,200 Speaker 7: for Lorena to use substances with them. Here's Christina again. 180 00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: We saw addition as a basic reality. It was like 181 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: a copy mechanism that our community was using just to 182 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:03,319 Speaker 1: kind of like survive. 183 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,679 Speaker 7: But as Lorena began using drugs, the US also ramped 184 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,200 Speaker 7: up its criminalization of drugs and the expansion of policing 185 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 7: in communities of color. Then, in March of nineteen ninety four, 186 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,960 Speaker 7: New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's administration implemented what was known 187 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 7: as quality of life policing, which aimed to quote unquote 188 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 7: clean up the city by allowing broader officer discretion to stop, question, frisk, 189 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 7: and arrest for minor offenses, arrests in the trans community 190 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:36,520 Speaker 7: became more and more common. 191 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: One day, I was eating achuso an asura, like at 192 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,319 Speaker 1: nine o'clock at night, and they'd like drop it. I'm like, 193 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: why am I going to drop it? I just bought 194 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:47,679 Speaker 1: it right now, and they're like, drop it. 195 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 12: You're coming in. 196 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:52,839 Speaker 7: The loose language of quality of life policing made it 197 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,080 Speaker 7: so that simply carrying condoms on you could be used 198 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 7: as evidence of prostitution. On top of that, New York 199 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 7: anti loitering statutes, colloquially known as the Walking while trans Band, 200 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:09,199 Speaker 7: gave police the discretion to detain anyone they presumed to 201 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:18,959 Speaker 7: be loitering for the purposes of prostitution. While the statute 202 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 7: was finally repealed this past February, data cited by the 203 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,200 Speaker 7: New York State Senate shows that as recent as twenty eighteen, 204 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,719 Speaker 7: ninety one percent of people arrested under this regulation were 205 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 7: black and LATINX, with eighty percent identifying as women. Lorena 206 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:41,800 Speaker 7: says her encounters with the police were always violent and humiliating. 207 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:47,080 Speaker 10: Io's date Nobasara is defon. 208 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 3: The nw LA te conasona. 209 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 7: Lodina would face several charges for prostitution according to Lindley, 210 00:13:55,760 --> 00:14:00,599 Speaker 7: all a direct result of human trafficking. Although hoped to 211 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:04,079 Speaker 7: apply for naturalization and had even studied for the test, 212 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:07,760 Speaker 7: her convictions made her ineligible to renew her green card 213 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 7: or applied to become a US citizen. In her last arrest, 214 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,839 Speaker 7: the judge gave her a warning. One more arrest and 215 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 7: she would be sent back to Mexico. Carrying condoms was 216 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 7: increasingly putting trans women of color at higher risk of 217 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 7: arrest and deportation. While HIV infection in the trans community 218 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 7: continued to. 219 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:42,359 Speaker 1: Rise, we were saying more of our peers become HIV positive. 220 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: Always knew is that people were dying all the time 221 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: and getting really stick. The messages that we were getting 222 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 1: from media was that it was a gay illness and 223 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:52,920 Speaker 1: theing one that was like a part of the LGBT 224 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: community was going to diabate. 225 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:59,280 Speaker 7: In the mid nineties, Lorena herself became HIV positive. 226 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: Then disclosing about being HIV positive was like a really 227 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:08,360 Speaker 1: big deal. We were just afraid of rejection. So I 228 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: don't know if she was able to speak about it 229 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,240 Speaker 1: early in the beginning of her illness. 230 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,240 Speaker 7: The crucial early stages of the epidemic were met with 231 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 7: a complete lack of government response. Although cases of death 232 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:24,320 Speaker 7: and infection from HIV rose dramatically since the virus was 233 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 7: first discovered in the US in nineteen eighty one, President 234 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 7: Reagan did not publicly acknowledge the AIDS crisis until nineteen 235 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:36,680 Speaker 7: eighty five. For years, there was no treatment, and even 236 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 7: when it became available, it came at a steep cost. 237 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 5: It's the only government approved AIDS drug in America at 238 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 5: ten thousand dollars a year cost per patient. It's prohibitively 239 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 5: expensive for most and not widely available. 240 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:54,240 Speaker 7: In nineteen ninety three, the CDC reported that black and 241 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 7: Latin X people accounted for fifty five percent of the 242 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 7: over one hundred thousand EIGHTS cases reported in the United 243 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 7: States that year. Trans people faced added barriers when trying 244 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 7: to access care. 245 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: I don't believe that there were any trans led organizations, 246 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: So a lot of times that services were like for 247 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,880 Speaker 1: gay men, a lot of times we were misgendered. They 248 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: wouldn't allow us to use her prefer name. And a 249 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,600 Speaker 1: lot of it was geared towards people who were non immigrants, 250 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:28,600 Speaker 1: so people that spoke English, people that had documentation. In 251 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:32,520 Speaker 1: a way we felt like that was some of our reality. 252 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: You engage in sex work, like you make that your 253 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 1: career and then you get AIDS and then you die. 254 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: We wanted more than that. 255 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 4: Coming up on Latino USA, Lorena decides that if her 256 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 4: community isn't getting the services they need, she'll bring the 257 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 4: resources to them. Say her outreach begins, stay with us, Yes, hey, 258 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 4: we're back. And before the break, we'd been listening to 259 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:56,440 Speaker 4: the story of the pioneering trans Latina activist Lorena Borcas. 260 00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 4: In the mid nineteen nineties, at the height of the 261 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 4: aides at aademic, Lorena would develop a personal approach in 262 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 4: order to connect trans immigrants and sex workers to the 263 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 4: critical medical and legal resources they needed. Back Now to 264 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 4: producer Julia Rocha, it. 265 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 7: Was on Roosevelt Avenue in the heart of Queens that 266 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:26,159 Speaker 7: Lorena was witnessing her community grapple with a crisis that 267 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:28,119 Speaker 7: the world didn't want to acknowledge. 268 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:39,920 Speaker 10: Los jegavan facilmente milabor diego are partiloe orque crescendo moues 269 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,879 Speaker 10: trances a young veextando cevan moriendo. 270 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 7: Lorena remembers that by the mid nineties, a condom was 271 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:49,879 Speaker 7: a lot more than a piece of rubber. Due to 272 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 7: criminalization of sex work, condoms could be used as evidence 273 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,720 Speaker 7: for prostitution charges. At the same time, trans women were 274 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 7: facing high rates of HIV infection. In nineteen ninety five, Lorena, 275 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:07,719 Speaker 7: who herself had become HIV positive, started to volunteer at 276 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 7: a hospital of eight patients. Realizing that the condoms weren't 277 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,359 Speaker 7: getting to those who needed them most, she began taking 278 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 7: condoms from local clinics to distribute to sex workers on 279 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:24,399 Speaker 7: Roosevelt Avenue. In the early years of her work, Lorena's 280 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 7: office was the wheelie bag that she carried with her everywhere. 281 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:33,400 Speaker 1: Lorena loved to always carry like a little senior City 282 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: Saint shopping cart. She would tuck in there like a 283 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: lot of her olders with resources, so she would really 284 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:43,160 Speaker 1: like pack a lot of stuff in there. I don't 285 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: know how she would even carry it up the train 286 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,399 Speaker 1: station because some trains didn't have elevators back then. And 287 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: I'll be like, Lorena, how do. 288 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:50,000 Speaker 11: You do this? 289 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 7: Walking down Roosevelt Avenue with her Carrito, Lorena got to 290 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 7: know people, and everyone got to know Lorena. 291 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:03,120 Speaker 1: She would remember everybody's name. She would walk down Roosevelt 292 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,399 Speaker 1: Avenue like stopping people and being like, you know you 293 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: want this information or do you need any condoms? She 294 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 1: always had like a wealth of resources. 295 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,879 Speaker 10: Laborers AAESU format. 296 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 7: As she met people on Roosevelt Avenue, Lorena would connect 297 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,440 Speaker 7: them to medical and legal services. She was building a 298 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:29,200 Speaker 7: network and encouraging others to take on this organizing work. 299 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 7: By the mid nineties, Lorena and Christina, who had just 300 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,920 Speaker 7: gotten a degree in human services, wanted to create the 301 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 7: support networks they wish they had had when they first 302 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 7: arrived in New York. 303 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: We were seeing some community members that were nearly diagnosed 304 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: and they didn't know where to live and stuff. So 305 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,920 Speaker 1: I would take them in, similar to to Lorena, you know, 306 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,200 Speaker 1: it's like Latino culture on the Cave Cavin. Yes, you know, 307 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: even if it's a little studio, ten of us can 308 00:20:58,920 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: fit here. 309 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 7: Lorena felt there were no spaces specifically for trans Latinas, 310 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:09,680 Speaker 7: transsex workers and HIV positive trans women, so she created 311 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:13,760 Speaker 7: those spaces in her own apartment known as La Caajai 312 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:18,680 Speaker 7: Los Rios. The Matchbox. Lorena Studio became a welcome center 313 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 7: for transwomen who would find themselves without a place to 314 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 7: go if they fled violence and discrimination in Latin America, 315 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,399 Speaker 7: if they were evicted, if they were released from prison, 316 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:32,920 Speaker 7: if they were ostracized from their families, they would all 317 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:35,600 Speaker 7: find refuge and a home with Lorena. 318 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: Back in the mid nineties, there were center for this 319 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 1: is controlled HIV intervention which was like a safety net party. 320 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 1: And like a safety net party was that you gather 321 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,159 Speaker 1: a group of friends and you invite them to your 322 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: house and you provide them with HIV prevention, education and condoms. 323 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:00,440 Speaker 1: If an agency wanted to provide HIV tests, you would 324 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: invite into your house and they would do the testing 325 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,560 Speaker 1: in the bathroom. And so Lorena I used to love 326 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: to do those groups at her house. 327 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,680 Speaker 7: Most of this would be unpaid work and the costs 328 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,160 Speaker 7: would come out of her own pocket from the money 329 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 7: she would get cleaning houses and from sex work. 330 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:18,960 Speaker 1: A little by little bit, her mission to really save 331 00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 1: lives also helped her propel herself to at different place 332 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 1: where she saved herself. She got cleaned from drugs, she 333 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: stopped drinking. She was in recovery for many many years. 334 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 7: Lorena would go on to host the first transcenered HIV 335 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,480 Speaker 7: support groups at the Eighth Center of Queen's County. But 336 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,360 Speaker 7: even as she partnered with local organizations, she never left 337 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,159 Speaker 7: behind her outreach on Roosevelt Avenue. It was through her 338 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,000 Speaker 7: algance one night in two thousand and five that Lorena 339 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:57,800 Speaker 7: met Cecilia Hendie. Cecilia, who had fled gender discrimination in Argentina, 340 00:22:58,280 --> 00:22:59,959 Speaker 7: had moved to New York in two thousand and five 341 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 7: for and she was making good money as an escort. 342 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: I was invited to go to a club call Atlantist 343 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 1: at the time, which later became Evolution. 344 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:17,159 Speaker 7: When she arrived at the club pounding with loud music, 345 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 7: Lorena was at the front door giving out condoms. 346 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,080 Speaker 11: And when she saw me, I could see the excitement 347 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:29,680 Speaker 11: in her and I remember she saying like, oh, Oka Ra, Oh, 348 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:31,800 Speaker 11: you're very beautiful where. 349 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 3: You come from. 350 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:33,560 Speaker 1: And she asked me a couple of questions. 351 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 7: Cecilia asked what she was doing, and Lorena explained. 352 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,960 Speaker 11: I remember she called it I can say. I used 353 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 11: to ask, it's like what is I can say, what 354 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 11: does that mean? And she said I can't say it 355 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 11: like when you go to the people, you go to 356 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,400 Speaker 11: the street. And I thought her she was a little 357 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:53,359 Speaker 11: bit too invasive for me. And I was living and 358 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 11: feeling and doing fabulous you know, at the same time, 359 00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 11: I was also using a lot of drugs. 360 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 7: Life would reunite Lorena and Cecilia a few years later 361 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 7: at a different moment in Cecilia's life. 362 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:16,200 Speaker 11: Because of that specific addiction, I lost my apartment and 363 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 11: I became homeless, and I started getting arrested and going 364 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:26,360 Speaker 11: back to do street sex work. And one of those 365 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 11: days I ended up going to work on Roosevelt Avenue 366 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 11: and there she was again offering me condoms like she 367 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:39,280 Speaker 11: did years before, and this time I needed it. 368 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 7: Cecilia remembers how Lorena approached her with the same warmth 369 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 7: as the first time they met. Lorena offered Cecilia about 370 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,920 Speaker 7: to eat and advice about staying safe on Roosevelt Avenue. 371 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 7: Cecilia would soon find herself in a trafficking situation, and 372 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 7: when one of the houses that she was working at 373 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:06,160 Speaker 7: was raided, she too experienced the criminal justice deportation pipeline, 374 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 7: going from Rikers Island to an iced detention center until 375 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 7: she was finally released with an inkle bracelet and was 376 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:17,119 Speaker 7: able to access long term substance treatment. Her case manager 377 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 7: recommended Cecilia support services at the LGBTQ Center. 378 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 11: I started going to meetings in Jackson Heights that ware 379 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:30,120 Speaker 11: in Spanish, and guess who was there, Lorena war Has. 380 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:34,000 Speaker 7: Again, Cecilia began to look at Lorena's work differently. 381 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:36,200 Speaker 1: I wanted to give, like, you know, that person that 382 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:38,680 Speaker 1: was myself a couple of years ago, who was like 383 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: using drugs, working in the street, access to healthcare. 384 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 11: So I asked Lorena, you have to connect me with 385 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,679 Speaker 11: the girls, and she says like, no, I'm not going 386 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 11: to connect you with the girls. If you want, you 387 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,879 Speaker 11: can come with me and do our reach, like what 388 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 11: she told me. The first time, I can say. 389 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,600 Speaker 7: Lorena invited Cecilia to walk with her as she distributed 390 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:01,200 Speaker 7: condom on Roosevelt Avenue. 391 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:04,200 Speaker 11: The first time, I made a terrible mistake of going 392 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,680 Speaker 11: on high heels and looking like professional. I had to 393 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,960 Speaker 11: leave right away because I couldn't talk on his She says, like, 394 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,080 Speaker 11: no girl to Dinna Ken and Chang class. 395 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 7: Next time Cecilia joined Lorena, she got to see more 396 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,680 Speaker 7: of her strategy right on the street was that having 397 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 7: three condoms or more would get you in trouble with 398 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:23,920 Speaker 7: the police. 399 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:29,680 Speaker 11: So Lorena walk up and down Roosevelt Avenue and she 400 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,400 Speaker 11: always want the girls to have two condoms with them. 401 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:37,360 Speaker 11: Every time they use one day co Lorena and Lorena 402 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,840 Speaker 11: would run and give them another one. So they always 403 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,280 Speaker 11: have two condoms, but they never have three condoms. But 404 00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:48,200 Speaker 11: they always have condoms. But the problem was these that 405 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:54,720 Speaker 11: while all these girls were walking Roosevelt Avenue with two condoms, 406 00:26:55,920 --> 00:27:01,159 Speaker 11: Lorena was working Roosevelt Avenue with high dress of condoms. 407 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,679 Speaker 11: And she said, the police know me. They're not going 408 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,920 Speaker 11: to stop me, you know, and if they do, they do, 409 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:09,359 Speaker 11: somebody has to do it. 410 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 7: As Lorena saw more and more of her community getting 411 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,159 Speaker 7: arrested with charges of loitering for the purpose of prostitution, 412 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 7: she began mobilizing, knocking on the doors of nonprofits to 413 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,840 Speaker 7: get money to pay for the bail, transportation, and fees 414 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 7: of trans people who would get picked up by the police. 415 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 7: Lorena's lawyer, Linley, describes how they first met because Lorena 416 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 7: was always at the courthouse. 417 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 2: I was representing one young transwoman who is in jail 418 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:48,200 Speaker 2: on felony assault charges and I needed her birth certificate. Somehow, 419 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:52,159 Speaker 2: in walks this woman and she said, I hear you 420 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:56,119 Speaker 2: need someone's birth certificate, And I was like, who are you? 421 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:57,159 Speaker 1: And she just looks at me. 422 00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:59,680 Speaker 2: She's like, I'm Lorena. So she digs into her bag 423 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 2: with which I later called her Mary Poppins bag, and 424 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 2: out pops this original birth certificate for this young person 425 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:08,439 Speaker 2: I'm representing in Rikers and I'm. 426 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:08,920 Speaker 9: Just like what. 427 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 2: I was like, how do you have this? 428 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 3: She's just like, I'm Lorena, and I'm like Okay. 429 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 7: While doing this kind of work, Lorena entered the Sylvia 430 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 7: Rivera Law Project as a client. She began to learn 431 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,879 Speaker 7: more about the criminal justice system and its overlap with 432 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 7: the immigration system. She started to connect other women in 433 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:30,040 Speaker 7: her network with legal advisors and ultimately help them file 434 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:34,639 Speaker 7: for asylum petitions. Here, she met Chase Strangio, a lawyer 435 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 7: and TRANSWRTS advocate. Together, in April of twenty twelve, they 436 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:43,560 Speaker 7: officially launched the Lorena Voraz Community Fund to provide bail 437 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:49,280 Speaker 7: and bond assistance to trans people. At the launch, the 438 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 7: crowd cheers as Lorena cuts a ribbon held by Christina 439 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:58,520 Speaker 7: and some of Lorena's friends and colleagues. Two months after 440 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 7: the launch of the Lorena Bora Community Fund, Lorena attended 441 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:06,680 Speaker 7: a conference in Philadelphia where she met Liam Winslet, Liam 442 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:09,280 Speaker 7: who at the time was twenty three, was a guest 443 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 7: speaker at a panel about the persecution she faced as 444 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:14,120 Speaker 7: a trans woman in Ecuador. 445 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 12: Abasala. 446 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 7: Lorena approached Liam after her presentation and gave her a hug, 447 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 7: thanking her for what she shared. In the following days, 448 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,240 Speaker 7: Liam opened up to Lorena and told her she was 449 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:35,959 Speaker 7: hoping she could stay in the US and then migrate 450 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 7: to Canada to seek political asylum. Liam wanted to start 451 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 7: her transition and knew she couldn't do it in Ecuador. 452 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,840 Speaker 12: Doyamani who iota da? 453 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 7: Lorena told Liam to come to New York, promising to 454 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,920 Speaker 7: help her get settled. A couple of days later, Liam 455 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:57,920 Speaker 7: arrived in Port Authority. She remembers she was nervous. She 456 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:01,160 Speaker 7: didn't know how to get around or what entertake, but 457 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 7: she managed to get to Queens, which was celebrating the 458 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 7: Pride Day parade. 459 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 12: Contre Club EVOLUTIONSA. 460 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 7: She found Lorena sitting outside Club Evolution, Lorena's second home, 461 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 7: as they gave out condoms to bypassers. Lorena would tell 462 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:26,280 Speaker 7: Liam about the lawyers, doctors, and therapists that she would 463 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 7: connect Liam. 464 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:34,920 Speaker 12: With doing in Lolvida. 465 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,600 Speaker 7: Lorena told Liam, you can't be without papers in this country. 466 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:45,960 Speaker 7: Not having your paperwork would mean to stay in the 467 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,880 Speaker 7: shadows forgotten. You'll fight, and I'll fight with. 468 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: You, and she did. 469 00:30:54,640 --> 00:31:03,120 Speaker 13: Then Kertia Maloonnacha. 470 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 8: Moment in. 471 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,760 Speaker 7: Liam remembers sitting at that table on Roosevelt Avenue with Lorena, 472 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 7: feeling loved valued heard for the first time. From that 473 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 7: moment on, Liam and Lorena were inseparable. In the following 474 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:25,280 Speaker 7: weeks and months, Lorena would walk with Liam to make 475 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 7: sure that she made it to her medical and legal appointments, 476 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:32,640 Speaker 7: and Liam remembers that arriving with Lorena always made a difference. 477 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 7: Providers knew her, and she felt that they treated her 478 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 7: with respect. 479 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:48,520 Speaker 14: Oh just saik itica significa the Lokona. 480 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 7: Liam, who had been doing community outreach and organizing since 481 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,560 Speaker 7: she was twelve, started to work alongside Lorena. 482 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 12: Yo. 483 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 7: Lorena would tell Liam, you know a lot. Liam in 484 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:06,560 Speaker 7: turn would often tell Lorena, your work has power. Lorena, however, 485 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 7: would brush it off. A Lorena began getting recognition and 486 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 7: awards for her decades of community work, but at the 487 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 7: same time, Liam recalls Lorena feeling insecure about her language skills, 488 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,200 Speaker 7: thinking this was a reason that some people may disregard 489 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 7: herdo to Liam, Christina, Cecilia and many others in her 490 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 7: community encouraged Lorena to create her own organization, but when 491 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:45,120 Speaker 7: Lorena sought out the help of established organizations and institutions 492 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:49,280 Speaker 7: around the city, she soon found doors shut. Liam recalls 493 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 7: how they were often encouraged to continue to do outreach, 494 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,160 Speaker 7: but to stay away from leading a whole organization. 495 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,040 Speaker 1: Lorena, you know, she had built a huge network up 496 00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 1: like lawyers, medical provider, she had developed relationships with, like 497 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:14,920 Speaker 1: the court system in Queens. She dared to dream to 498 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 1: have her own organization. And that's where like, you know, 499 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: she was like, Cecilia, you know, how can we get money? 500 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:25,160 Speaker 7: It became a Saturday virtual Lorena would go over to 501 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:28,360 Speaker 7: Cecilia's and the two would fill out grant applications. 502 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 11: A lot of my work was interpreting emails, but then 503 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,520 Speaker 11: she was learning some English and she was very proud. 504 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:42,040 Speaker 11: I remember one time she called me and she said, 505 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 11: I want you to call me back, and I was like, 506 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,440 Speaker 11: why can you talk right now? And she's like, because 507 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 11: I want you to call me back. I want you 508 00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:54,240 Speaker 11: to hang up and call me back. So I hang 509 00:33:54,400 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 11: up and call her back and it went to her 510 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:06,840 Speaker 11: voice mail, and her voice mail was in English, and 511 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:08,200 Speaker 11: she was so proud. 512 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,600 Speaker 7: After months of saturdays at Cecilia's, they were able to 513 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:21,720 Speaker 7: secure funding, and in twenty fifteen, Lorena became the founder 514 00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:27,800 Speaker 7: and executive director of the Collectivo Intercultural Transgrediento. The organization 515 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,400 Speaker 7: rented a small office in the basement of a building 516 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,120 Speaker 7: on their bustling and beloved Roosevelt Avenue. 517 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:38,400 Speaker 12: Collectivo Yet. 518 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:46,720 Speaker 7: Liam remembers Lorena's beaming face. The day they opened the space, 519 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 7: Lorena looked around and said, Liam, just how far will 520 00:34:51,200 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 7: we go? Even as she was building an entire organization 521 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:10,040 Speaker 7: to advocate for trans women fleeing gender violence and discrimination 522 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,719 Speaker 7: in Latin America, Lorena was still at risk of being 523 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,520 Speaker 7: deported due to her pending criminal charges. 524 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:20,480 Speaker 1: She needed to move on from being in that place 525 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:23,400 Speaker 1: where she had of those convictions that were giving her 526 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:25,400 Speaker 1: problems to become a US citizen. 527 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:30,759 Speaker 7: Although Lorena was reluctant at first, her lawyer Linley, proposed 528 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:34,360 Speaker 7: that they file for a governor's pardon. The application that 529 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 7: Linley put together was hundreds of pages long, with letters 530 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 7: of support from organizations, elected officials, and most importantly, all 531 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,200 Speaker 7: of the people like Liam that Lorena had helped. Here's 532 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:48,919 Speaker 7: Linley again. 533 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:52,799 Speaker 2: But I remember her looking at those letters and her 534 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,880 Speaker 2: crying because it was the first time I think she 535 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 2: had taken a moment to acknowledge how much she's done. 536 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,800 Speaker 7: In twenty seventeen, Lorena received a call from Governor Cuomo himself. 537 00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:08,920 Speaker 7: He issued her a pardon, making it possible for Lorena 538 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:16,320 Speaker 7: to apply for naturalization. Liam remembers that the momentum of 539 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:20,080 Speaker 7: the past few years felt like a snowball growing bigger 540 00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:20,720 Speaker 7: and bigger. 541 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:31,480 Speaker 12: Unico looking Lomili quin Se Fortmando. 542 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:35,520 Speaker 7: For In the spring of twenty eighteen, Sophia met Lorena again, 543 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:39,200 Speaker 7: this time with Cindina and Glaris, another producer for this 544 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:40,080 Speaker 7: story You. 545 00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:48,960 Speaker 10: Think Strado and Mivattivas que Buca Servizios. 546 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:52,239 Speaker 7: Lorena shared with them that she had built a database 547 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:55,839 Speaker 7: of over four hundred and ninety trans women doing sex 548 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:58,799 Speaker 7: work in Queens and she was helping to connect them 549 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:01,800 Speaker 7: to legal, immigration and health services. 550 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:08,719 Speaker 11: In twenty twenty, she saw a possibility to materialize her 551 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:14,480 Speaker 11: dreams for Collectivo. I think she finally had then pride 552 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:18,560 Speaker 11: to say, like, yeah, you know, I'm a trans Latina. 553 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:23,080 Speaker 11: My English is not the best, and I am an 554 00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:27,800 Speaker 11: executive director, and I deserve money for my girls. 555 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:29,960 Speaker 1: I think she was ready, and she was. 556 00:37:30,239 --> 00:37:30,759 Speaker 9: She was like. 557 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:34,040 Speaker 1: Like a ripe papaya. 558 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:43,560 Speaker 4: Coming up on Latino usay. A moment of hope interrupted. 559 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:48,280 Speaker 4: Lorena and the trans immigrant community in Queens find themselves 560 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:53,280 Speaker 4: at the very epicenter of an unforeseen public health crisis. 561 00:37:54,520 --> 00:38:40,879 Speaker 8: Stay with us, not Bayas, Hey, We're back. 562 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 4: We've been telling the story of Lorena Borjaz, whose activism 563 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,800 Speaker 4: grew out of a moment of crisis, the AIDS epidemic 564 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,919 Speaker 4: and its impact on trans Latinas in New York City. 565 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,080 Speaker 4: After decades of movement building, the community Lorena had helped 566 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:04,160 Speaker 4: to forge would face another unexpected health crisis in twenty twenty. 567 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:07,759 Speaker 4: Producer Julia Rocha picks up this story from here. 568 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:15,680 Speaker 9: The number of confirmed coronavirus infections continues. 569 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:16,600 Speaker 8: To grow worldwide. 570 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,760 Speaker 9: There are now at least eighty nine cases in the US, 571 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:25,000 Speaker 9: with New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Florida reporting new infections. 572 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:27,839 Speaker 9: Very few tests have been done. 573 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,560 Speaker 7: It was early March of twenty twenty and the first 574 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:36,160 Speaker 7: cases of COVID nineteen were all over the news, but 575 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,480 Speaker 7: the government continued to downplay the severity of the situation 576 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:43,400 Speaker 7: and little was known about how to stay safe. Liam 577 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:47,680 Speaker 7: remembers the trans community got together after Alexander grond Luciano, 578 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,640 Speaker 7: a trans woman, was killed in Puerto Rico. 579 00:39:57,239 --> 00:39:59,359 Speaker 3: Ido a CoA. 580 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:02,800 Speaker 12: The old Mundo. 581 00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:07,640 Speaker 7: Lorena arrived with her usual warmth, giving everyone hugs and kisses. 582 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:10,840 Speaker 7: They had no way of knowing this would be Lorena's 583 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:15,960 Speaker 7: last public appearance, that this greeting would actually be there goodbye. 584 00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:20,040 Speaker 1: I did try to tell her to minimize interactions with people, 585 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:23,080 Speaker 1: but it was hard for her because you know, she 586 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:26,560 Speaker 1: she loved to work with people, so she was hard 587 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:28,439 Speaker 1: for her to limit herself to stay home. 588 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:31,880 Speaker 7: On March fourteenth, Cecilia I got a call from Lorena. 589 00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,160 Speaker 7: They had made plans to see each other, but Lorena 590 00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:38,840 Speaker 7: told her she couldn't make it. After battling HIV for decades, 591 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:42,600 Speaker 7: Lorena's health was precarious and she wasn't feeling well. 592 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:47,840 Speaker 1: And I said, Lorena, can you taste food? And she 593 00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,600 Speaker 1: said no, no really, And so Lourena, I think you 594 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 1: have COVID And I said, like you prefer if you 595 00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:58,479 Speaker 1: go to a doct her and she said, no, trance. 596 00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:03,080 Speaker 1: People will have a long story of mistressed with medical providers. Right, 597 00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:05,120 Speaker 1: she was going to go and see a doctor that 598 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:07,560 Speaker 1: we know her, that doesn't know that she's trends that 599 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,920 Speaker 1: may misgender her. Most likely it's not going to speak Spanish. 600 00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:15,440 Speaker 1: So you know, when you have all those things, of 601 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:16,279 Speaker 1: course you don't want to go. 602 00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:16,880 Speaker 3: To a doctor. 603 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:20,320 Speaker 7: Cecilia called an ambulance that would take Lorna to the 604 00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:22,640 Speaker 7: er at Elmhurst Hospital and. 605 00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:24,120 Speaker 1: She said, no, no, don't do that. 606 00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:24,560 Speaker 11: Don't do that. 607 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:27,000 Speaker 1: Don't want to go to the hospital. And ce Lorena, 608 00:41:27,040 --> 00:41:29,440 Speaker 1: if I could, I'd be with you, but you're not 609 00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:30,080 Speaker 1: going to let me. 610 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:31,880 Speaker 12: You have to go by yourself. 611 00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:35,840 Speaker 7: The hospital, less than a mile away from Lorena's apartment, 612 00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:41,719 Speaker 7: was already overflowing with COVID nineteen patients. At the time. Queens, 613 00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:45,000 Speaker 7: which has the highest rate of residents born outside the 614 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,800 Speaker 7: US in New York City, accounted for thirty two percent 615 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:54,120 Speaker 7: of the city's confirmed coronavirus cases. All Health Hospital is 616 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:56,319 Speaker 7: the epicenter of the epicenter of. 617 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:58,799 Speaker 3: The coviminal crisis that we're going through. 618 00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:03,239 Speaker 8: They're over five hundred beds here and all of those 619 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:04,160 Speaker 8: beds are filled. 620 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:09,600 Speaker 7: Lorena was tested for COVID, but the results would take 621 00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:13,640 Speaker 7: two days to come back. Hours later, when she got hungry, 622 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:16,800 Speaker 7: she texted Liam that there was no food in the hospital. 623 00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:20,000 Speaker 7: Liam brought her Mexican food from one of her favorite 624 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:24,200 Speaker 7: restaurants on Roosevelt Avenue, chicken with rice and beans, just 625 00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:24,960 Speaker 7: as she liked it. 626 00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:29,720 Speaker 12: I'm coming coma. 627 00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:38,080 Speaker 7: Liam brought the food to the hospital. She wasn't allowed 628 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:40,120 Speaker 7: to go in the room, but since the window of 629 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:43,640 Speaker 7: Lorena's hospital room faced the street, she saw Lorena one 630 00:42:43,719 --> 00:42:45,759 Speaker 7: last time through the window and they talked on the 631 00:42:45,840 --> 00:43:00,720 Speaker 7: phone Andea. 632 00:42:57,840 --> 00:42:58,000 Speaker 11: Hell. 633 00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:04,719 Speaker 7: Even in the hospital, all Lorena could think about was 634 00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:08,439 Speaker 7: her girls, her bajadas as she called them. She told 635 00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:11,680 Speaker 7: Liam they had to raise funds for the community. Liam 636 00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:17,840 Speaker 7: agreed and waved goodbye through the window. Early in the pandemic, 637 00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:21,359 Speaker 7: the protocol was to send stable patients to recover at home. 638 00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:26,040 Speaker 7: So on March fifteenth, the hospital discharged Lorena, and. 639 00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:28,719 Speaker 11: When she went home, she had really really bad, really 640 00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:35,880 Speaker 11: really sick, and that's where she stopped answering my phone calls. 641 00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:41,239 Speaker 7: One day later, Lorna's test results came back. She was 642 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:42,360 Speaker 7: positive for COVID. 643 00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:46,760 Speaker 1: Nineteen I went to take them grolseries, but she couldn't 644 00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:47,720 Speaker 1: really talk or anything. 645 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:49,040 Speaker 12: She was like really sick. 646 00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:53,239 Speaker 7: Lordina's health was declining quickly. She could no longer talk 647 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:59,680 Speaker 7: or swallow again. Cecilia called an ambulance. Lorena was taken 648 00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:03,320 Speaker 7: back to Elmhurst, but they weren't taking new patients. She 649 00:44:03,520 --> 00:44:08,080 Speaker 7: was moved around looking for an open bed. She had 650 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:10,680 Speaker 7: her phone on her and the only way Liam could 651 00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:13,839 Speaker 7: find her location was through to find my iPhone app. 652 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:17,840 Speaker 1: They sent her to Corney Island Hospital. 653 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:20,920 Speaker 7: That's a hospital on the other side of the city. 654 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:23,040 Speaker 1: And she was there where she was intubated. 655 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:27,040 Speaker 7: Lorena was induced into a coma and according to Liam, 656 00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:30,719 Speaker 7: the doctor said that if her heart stopped, they would 657 00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:34,600 Speaker 7: not try to revive her. On March thirtieth, at five 658 00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:37,719 Speaker 7: point twenty two in the morning, the hospital called Cecilia. 659 00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:43,279 Speaker 1: I missed that call in when I woke up, I 660 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:45,560 Speaker 1: called back the number because I knew that it was 661 00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:50,919 Speaker 1: an hospital and they told me that Lorena had died. 662 00:44:53,080 --> 00:45:05,040 Speaker 1: It was just this sound, incredible feeling of emptiness. 663 00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:08,560 Speaker 7: Lorena was fifty nine years old. 664 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:16,080 Speaker 1: This all happened when Lorena was on top of the world, 665 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:20,560 Speaker 1: like she had just become an AU naturalized citizen. She 666 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:24,120 Speaker 1: had bought herself a new car the year before. She 667 00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:28,120 Speaker 1: was driving into Europe to Mexico. Like things were going 668 00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:32,279 Speaker 1: really good for her. And I think that in her 669 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:37,720 Speaker 1: last few days a song, because it's like she probably 670 00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:42,200 Speaker 1: knew that she was really sick, seriously sick. She survived 671 00:45:42,400 --> 00:45:46,279 Speaker 1: HIV for so many years and then this virus come 672 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:47,440 Speaker 1: along and took her. 673 00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:56,560 Speaker 7: With all in person gatherings halted due to the virus, 674 00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:00,120 Speaker 7: the process of grieving would take on a new and 675 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:05,400 Speaker 7: unfamiliar shape. Lorena's loved ones organized a memorial over zoom. 676 00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:06,880 Speaker 12: It was beautiful. 677 00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:10,880 Speaker 1: It was so many people, hundreds of people in a 678 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:16,120 Speaker 1: virtual vigil, and all these people who are very private 679 00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:18,800 Speaker 1: and very shy, just saying I want to say something, 680 00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:20,160 Speaker 1: I want to say something. 681 00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:25,560 Speaker 7: Over two hundred and fifty people from across the US, 682 00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:30,640 Speaker 7: Puerto Rico, and Mexico joined the call. Over and over. 683 00:46:31,239 --> 00:46:33,759 Speaker 7: People spoke about Lorena as their mother. 684 00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:39,920 Speaker 11: But I mean sonata a MAMAI Logorenita, So then God 685 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:40,680 Speaker 11: tres mamas. 686 00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:45,120 Speaker 7: A friend describes Lorena as their third mother after Lavin 687 00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:49,840 Speaker 7: Wall Lupe and their birth mother. With Lorena's passing, Lean 688 00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:55,160 Speaker 7: became the executive director of the Collectivo Intercutural Transcrerindo, the 689 00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:57,800 Speaker 7: organization that she had pushed Lorena at a start. 690 00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:04,360 Speaker 13: You're no quiero, s Lorena Jokiro recordari quiro leal iponem 691 00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:06,360 Speaker 13: praticatolo kejam in signo. 692 00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:10,080 Speaker 7: I don't want to be Lorena, Liam says, I want 693 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:13,279 Speaker 7: to keep her legacy alive and put into practice all 694 00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:16,839 Speaker 7: that she taught me. And it's not only Liam who 695 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:22,080 Speaker 7: carries the legacy of Lorena's lifelong work. Christina Herera leads 696 00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:25,960 Speaker 7: the trans LATINX Network, an organization she founded in two 697 00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:29,560 Speaker 7: thousand and seven to help trans and gender nonconforming folks 698 00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:34,080 Speaker 7: access legal and immigration services, as well as health and 699 00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:39,520 Speaker 7: mental health support. Cecilia Hintili started Transgender Equity Consulting at 700 00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:42,920 Speaker 7: the beginning of twenty nineteen after serving for three years 701 00:47:43,239 --> 00:47:47,080 Speaker 7: as the Director of Policy at GMHC, the world's first 702 00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:52,000 Speaker 7: provider of HIV AIDS prevention care and advocacy, and many 703 00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:55,080 Speaker 7: of the people Lorena helped and organized with are now 704 00:47:55,200 --> 00:48:00,520 Speaker 7: involved in her organization. Others work closely with LGBTQ organizations 705 00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:04,200 Speaker 7: across the city, including the Movement to decriminalize sex work 706 00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:12,480 Speaker 7: after witnessing how government indifference during the AIDS epidemic led 707 00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:16,520 Speaker 7: to disproportionate infection in black and brown communities. In her 708 00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:20,800 Speaker 7: final days, Lorena had predicted that the COVID nineteen crisis 709 00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:24,560 Speaker 7: would hit her community hard. Many in the trans sex 710 00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:27,920 Speaker 7: worker community have faced lack of work and access to 711 00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:31,920 Speaker 7: any kind of government aid during the pandemic. Many have 712 00:48:32,040 --> 00:48:35,600 Speaker 7: been evicted, putting them further at risk of becoming infected 713 00:48:35,719 --> 00:48:40,520 Speaker 7: with COVID nineteen. At a protest on July seventeenth, twenty twenty, 714 00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:43,800 Speaker 7: Liam and the members of Theranz Geradiendo march in the 715 00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:56,000 Speaker 7: streets as sex workers. As undocumented workers, they've been excluded 716 00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:59,320 Speaker 7: from stimulus checks and access to unemployment benefits. 717 00:49:01,520 --> 00:49:15,840 Speaker 13: Valentia Parasa Paestra Orque Communa Napolea Salia Monahanja. 718 00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:20,319 Speaker 7: During their last conversation through the hospital window, Lorena asked 719 00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:23,000 Speaker 7: Liam to start a fund to support their community through 720 00:49:23,040 --> 00:49:26,880 Speaker 7: the pandemic. Liam set up a gofund me after Lorenaz passing, 721 00:49:27,480 --> 00:49:30,480 Speaker 7: and to date, the fund has collected close to sixty 722 00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:33,520 Speaker 7: thousand dollars that they've been able to use to create 723 00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:34,800 Speaker 7: mutual aid programs. 724 00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:39,800 Speaker 14: Lena mayba Okay. 725 00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:46,160 Speaker 7: On a hot summer day in twenty twenty, Liam and 726 00:49:46,239 --> 00:49:50,000 Speaker 7: the volunteers hand out fresh fruits and vegetables at their 727 00:49:50,239 --> 00:49:55,080 Speaker 7: Mercarito Saliario trans a food distribution mutual aid program that 728 00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:58,239 Speaker 7: they created in April of twenty twenty, just a month 729 00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:02,440 Speaker 7: after Lorena's passing, with donations from local farmers' markets and 730 00:50:02,520 --> 00:50:05,440 Speaker 7: the money from the fund that Lorena asked Liam to make. 731 00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:09,479 Speaker 7: Despite the moment of pain and loss that they're living, 732 00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:13,319 Speaker 7: the volunteers laugh and dance to the music blaring out 733 00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:14,640 Speaker 7: of car speakers. 734 00:50:15,719 --> 00:50:20,920 Speaker 12: A Zaquia ruthvel. 735 00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:25,719 Speaker 7: And on weekend nights on Roosevelt Avenue, Liam and the 736 00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:29,360 Speaker 7: Transradien the volunteers are still there to hand out condoms. 737 00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:35,400 Speaker 7: On October of twenty twenty, one of Lorena's most ambitious 738 00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:39,920 Speaker 7: dreams for the organization would come true. El Colectio expanded 739 00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:43,080 Speaker 7: beyond their tiny one room office and was able to 740 00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:48,560 Speaker 7: secure a whole floor with rooms for offices, meetings, community gatherings. 741 00:50:58,440 --> 00:51:01,600 Speaker 7: As she walks around the half for an space, Liam 742 00:51:01,719 --> 00:51:04,919 Speaker 7: imagines all that the organization will do in each room. 743 00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:09,800 Speaker 7: An area for legal services, an area for their syringe exchange, 744 00:51:10,440 --> 00:51:13,440 Speaker 7: a desk for all of their employees, a space for 745 00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:17,040 Speaker 7: people to come and relax, says until. 746 00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:19,280 Speaker 15: Conte. 747 00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:24,799 Speaker 7: Standing next to Lorena's old desk, Liam says she can 748 00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:29,040 Speaker 7: still feel Lorena's support. She consents how proud she must 749 00:51:29,080 --> 00:51:33,640 Speaker 7: be knowing that her work continues. Liam says that their 750 00:51:33,680 --> 00:51:36,759 Speaker 7: next step is working to found the Lorena Borjas Shelter 751 00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:40,280 Speaker 7: in Queens to provide safe housing for the trans community. 752 00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:47,600 Speaker 7: On March thirtieth, twenty twenty one, a year after Lorena's death, 753 00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:52,080 Speaker 7: people from the community, neighbors, and politicians representing the district 754 00:51:52,600 --> 00:52:06,839 Speaker 7: gather on Roosevelt Avenue in Baxter Street. Liam speaks into 755 00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:11,880 Speaker 7: the mic, Lorena is here, placente in a ceremony that 756 00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:15,759 Speaker 7: would unveil the new name of the intersection, Lorena bore 757 00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:16,480 Speaker 7: has a way. 758 00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:20,200 Speaker 16: You know, we can say in Queens, it's a street 759 00:52:20,280 --> 00:52:24,080 Speaker 16: that has the name of a war you know, with 760 00:52:24,320 --> 00:52:25,560 Speaker 16: so much pride. 761 00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:29,160 Speaker 12: It's a street that has the name of a drug addict. 762 00:52:32,239 --> 00:52:37,360 Speaker 15: We did all of these together, but I'm almost like 763 00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:41,440 Speaker 15: a little bit mixed feelings to have a name in 764 00:52:41,600 --> 00:52:42,320 Speaker 15: her street. 765 00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:46,960 Speaker 16: If it's girls, how they are they don't have anything 766 00:52:47,040 --> 00:52:49,160 Speaker 16: to eat. If it's girls, how they are that they 767 00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:52,040 Speaker 16: can't pay the rent. If it's girls out there that 768 00:52:52,160 --> 00:52:56,640 Speaker 16: they don't have a doctor, So all the same tears 769 00:52:57,360 --> 00:52:58,240 Speaker 16: don't mean nothing. 770 00:52:58,560 --> 00:53:00,840 Speaker 1: If we don't have a commandment to do better for 771 00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:01,680 Speaker 1: the community. 772 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:04,160 Speaker 16: That's the only thing that doesn't make her happy. 773 00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:10,080 Speaker 7: At the event, Jenny Rivera's Mariposa Barrio, a song about 774 00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:14,319 Speaker 7: embracing hardships, is playing from a speaker, almost drowned out 775 00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:31,279 Speaker 7: by the Seven trainson Thanks, Liam remembers that when the 776 00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:35,960 Speaker 7: song would play, Lorena would stop everything and sing until. 777 00:53:35,719 --> 00:53:44,000 Speaker 12: The very end, You're crook, Yeah, like we we can do. 778 00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:49,239 Speaker 7: Though, Liam says Lorena was that butterfly, the one who, 779 00:53:49,640 --> 00:53:54,840 Speaker 7: as the lyrics say, turns pain into color. On April 780 00:53:54,920 --> 00:53:58,680 Speaker 7: first of twenty twenty one, Lorena's ashes were taken by 781 00:53:58,719 --> 00:54:01,800 Speaker 7: her closest friends to a crypt at a local cemetery. 782 00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:13,400 Speaker 7: Now in prayer, they were once again united by the 783 00:54:13,440 --> 00:54:19,440 Speaker 7: woman guilasal Canso who saved their lives, the same woman 784 00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:23,240 Speaker 7: who founded them her motor a Reason to Live. 785 00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:26,040 Speaker 11: Yo. 786 00:54:27,680 --> 00:54:30,440 Speaker 3: Am Parami and Motor de Vida. 787 00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:39,919 Speaker 4: On May ninth of twenty twenty one, Lo Borgas would 788 00:54:39,960 --> 00:55:06,960 Speaker 4: have turned sixty one years old. This episode was produced 789 00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:11,080 Speaker 4: by Julia Rocha, Sophia Serda Campero and Cindi Na Claes. 790 00:55:11,480 --> 00:55:14,840 Speaker 4: Sophia and Cindy began covering the trans Latina community in 791 00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:17,880 Speaker 4: March of twenty eighteen while they were students at the 792 00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:22,120 Speaker 4: Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CuNi, and they've 793 00:55:22,160 --> 00:55:25,080 Speaker 4: continued to report on this community since. This piece was 794 00:55:25,200 --> 00:55:28,800 Speaker 4: edited by Andrea Lopez Cruzado. Fact checking for this episode 795 00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:33,400 Speaker 4: by Any Tardif. The Latino USA team includes Nil Massis, 796 00:55:33,640 --> 00:55:38,400 Speaker 4: Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Julia Ta Martinelli, Victori Estrada, Gini 797 00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:42,600 Speaker 4: montalbo Alejandra Sarrassard and Renaldo Leanoz Junior, with help from 798 00:55:42,680 --> 00:55:48,400 Speaker 4: Raul Prees. Special thanks to Cristina Rera, Cecilia Andilli, Liam Winslet, 799 00:55:48,719 --> 00:55:51,960 Speaker 4: Lindley Edges and all of the people who share their 800 00:55:52,040 --> 00:55:56,480 Speaker 4: stories and memories about Lorena Borgas. We also want to 801 00:55:56,520 --> 00:56:02,840 Speaker 4: thank Collectivo inter Cultural Transgredie for documenting the trans Latina 802 00:56:02,920 --> 00:56:06,920 Speaker 4: movement in Queens and for sharing their archive with us. 803 00:56:07,719 --> 00:56:11,560 Speaker 4: Our engineers are Stephanie Lebau, Julia Caruso and Liah Shaw. 804 00:56:11,880 --> 00:56:15,120 Speaker 4: Our digital editor is Louise Luna Our New York Women's Foundation. 805 00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:19,279 Speaker 4: Ignite fellow is Mari Eskinka. Our intern isjros Garde Leon. 806 00:56:19,680 --> 00:56:22,840 Speaker 4: Our theme music was composed by Zee Robinos. If you 807 00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:24,880 Speaker 4: like the music you heard on this episode, stop by 808 00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:28,560 Speaker 4: Latinousa dot org and check out our weekly Spotify playlist. 809 00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:32,120 Speaker 4: I'm your host and executive producer Maria no Posa. Join 810 00:56:32,200 --> 00:56:34,280 Speaker 4: us again on our next episode, and in the meantime, 811 00:56:34,640 --> 00:56:38,040 Speaker 4: look for us on social media. Hi los BeO Chao. 812 00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:48,359 Speaker 17: Latino USA is made possible in part by New York 813 00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:53,040 Speaker 17: Women's Foundation, The New York Women's Foundation funding women leaders 814 00:56:53,120 --> 00:56:57,120 Speaker 17: that build solutions in their communities and celebrating thirty years 815 00:56:57,239 --> 00:57:02,960 Speaker 17: of radical generosity, and the Windcoat Foundation funding for Latino 816 00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:05,960 Speaker 17: usa is Coverage of a culture of health is made 817 00:57:06,040 --> 00:57:08,439 Speaker 17: possible in part by a grant from the Robert Wood 818 00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:09,400 Speaker 17: Johnson Foundation. 819 00:57:13,560 --> 00:57:17,160 Speaker 12: Come Onso