WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:05.519 Ola Migrido. Listener, here's an award winning episode from our archios. 2 00:00:05.640 --> 00:00:07.760 It's called Lorena's Alcanse. 3 00:00:08.760 --> 00:00:11.920 Lorena's phone was always on and she was the one 4 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.800 that will go to hate you out of Jaila keeping 5 00:00:17.880 --> 00:00:18.400 me safe. 6 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:20.079 She became like a mother. 7 00:00:20.520 --> 00:00:25.280 Her ability to help people escape trafficking situations, abusive situations, 8 00:00:25.400 --> 00:00:27.960 unsafe situations with the police. I've never seen anyone like 9 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.600 that before, and I doubt I will ever see anyone again. 10 00:00:44.440 --> 00:00:47.720 From Futro Media and p RX, It's Latino Usa. I'm 11 00:00:47.720 --> 00:00:52.479 Maria Rosa. Today, three years after her passing, we remember 12 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:56.880 the life and explore the legacy of Lorena Borgaz. She's 13 00:00:56.920 --> 00:01:00.920 known as the mother of the trans Latina community in Queens, 14 00:01:01.160 --> 00:01:08.679 New York. Originally from a small town in the coastal 15 00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:12.960 state of Veracruz, Mexico, Lorena arrived in the United States 16 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.280 in May of nineteen eighty one, just a few days 17 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:19.960 before her twenty first birthday. Less than a month later, 18 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:24.440 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the first 19 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:29.160 recorded case of a new and lethal virus spreading in 20 00:01:29.160 --> 00:01:30.440 the United States. 21 00:01:31.240 --> 00:01:34.880 Which shows as a lifestyle of some male homosexuals has 22 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:37.600 triggered an epidemic of a rare form of cancer. 23 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:42.720 This newscast from nineteen eighty one and the media at 24 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:47.160 large portrayed HIV and AIDS as the gay illness, some 25 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:51.600 reporters even calling it gay cancer. But even as the 26 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:55.280 deathol from AIDS grew in the following years, little was 27 00:01:55.360 --> 00:01:57.720 being done to provide much needed treatment. 28 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:02.200 Is right. 29 00:02:02.880 --> 00:02:06.760 The demonstration was carefully choreographed by act UP, a two 30 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:09.480 year old coalition of gay groups set up to fight 31 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:13.639 what they called the government's in action and silence on aid. 32 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:16.399 We have to let people know that there's an edge crisis, 33 00:02:16.480 --> 00:02:18.440 that people are dying, that we need money, that we 34 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:19.240 need healthcare. 35 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:24.400 While the AIDS epidemic is recognized as a catalyst for 36 00:02:24.600 --> 00:02:30.560 organizing in the LGBTQ community, trans immigrant women are often 37 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:35.640 left out of the narrative. In nineteen ninety five, at 38 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:40.040 the peak of the epidemic, Dorena, who had become HIV positive, 39 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:45.080 began what she called her Alcanse, or her outreach. She 40 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:49.919 was distributing condoms to trans immigrant sex workers in Queens, 41 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:52.960 New York. It was a means of not only addressing 42 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:56.760 the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, but also a way 43 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:01.800 of connecting trans immigrants to critical medical and legal services. 44 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:06.760 After decades of work building networks of mutual aid, it 45 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:11.799 would be another massive health crisis, COVID nineteen that would 46 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:17.040 finally take the life of this beloved community leader. Today 47 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:21.400 on our show, The Story of Lorenaz Alcanse. It's an 48 00:03:21.440 --> 00:03:25.880 intergenerational portrait of a pioneering activist, and we're going to 49 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:28.320 see her life through the eyes of the women who 50 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:31.400 knew her as a mother and as a sister in 51 00:03:31.440 --> 00:03:35.920 their struggle. To tell this story, here's producer Julia Rocha. 52 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:44.680 It's March a, twenty eighteen International Women's Day. Lorena sits 53 00:03:44.720 --> 00:03:47.880 at a Duncan Donuts on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights. 54 00:03:47.920 --> 00:03:51.800 Queen's the neighborhood that she's lived and worked in for 55 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:52.760 forty years. 56 00:03:53.000 --> 00:04:03.040 Oh so you Noelina, trans get you le Fla. 57 00:04:03.640 --> 00:04:08.160 Lorena calls herself a survivor, a trans Latina who's overcome 58 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:13.080 many obstacles in her life. It's almost nine pm. She 59 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:15.920 looks tired after a full day of work, but her 60 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.960 day is far from over. The backseat of her car 61 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:22.159 is full of boxes with condoms that she'll soon hand 62 00:04:22.200 --> 00:04:25.279 out to sex workers in the neighborhood. She's talking to 63 00:04:25.320 --> 00:04:28.760 Sophia Serre Campero, one of the producers of this story. 64 00:04:35.960 --> 00:04:38.400 Kia Luma. 65 00:04:41.880 --> 00:04:42.120 Chardo. 66 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:49.840 Lorena remembers growing up in Cosama. At twelve years old, 67 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:52.479 she was learning to put on makeup and loved to 68 00:04:52.520 --> 00:04:56.520 secretly try on her sister's clothes. Her family often called 69 00:04:56.520 --> 00:05:00.400 her a hoto, which is a derogatory term for gay. 70 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:03.279 One day, they caught her in her sister's clothes and 71 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:07.960 beat her. At just fourteen, she moved to Mexico City 72 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.240 on her own, where she would meet her first trans friends. 73 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:13.120 Makoian Lucca. 74 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:16.520 Lorena says that her friends used to call her Luca, 75 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:20.599 and while she found community in Mexico City, she also 76 00:05:20.640 --> 00:05:23.240 found danger and discrimination. 77 00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:34.080 The Onficiala in Nomcho cam mahem mipuer Vas Peola Criminaco. 78 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:37.960 Lorena says that one day five men forced her to 79 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.600 the top of a building and threatened to throw her 80 00:05:40.640 --> 00:05:45.320 off the rooftop. She still hadn't transitioned and was terrified 81 00:05:45.400 --> 00:05:48.679 that the violence would only get worse when her body changed. 82 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:52.480 In nineteen eighty one, some of her friends had come 83 00:05:52.520 --> 00:05:56.360 to the US to access gender affirming medical treatment, and 84 00:05:56.440 --> 00:05:59.760 they encouraged Lorena to do the same. Just a few 85 00:05:59.800 --> 00:06:03.640 days before turning twenty one, Lorena across the border. 86 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:09.080 Ermite tomas Americasi. 87 00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:12.520 I feel more American than those who were born here, 88 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:13.440 says Lorena. 89 00:06:13.880 --> 00:06:17.920 Aqui baisefer a del. 90 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:24.600 Usi a chapel d alfargoro, lucap in sect on the 91 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:30.560 filmin alcolica inober for a paseaqi in America tapahive. 92 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:35.280 Lorena says that in the US she became strong. It 93 00:06:35.440 --> 00:06:39.720 was in the US that she learned about sex, work, drugs, alcoholism, 94 00:06:40.440 --> 00:06:43.080 So she says, if she went through all of that here, 95 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:50.039 then this is her country. Lorna's first job as an 96 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:54.400 undocumented immigrant was assembling furniture at a factory. She made 97 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:56.760 just enough to rent a room in Queens and buy 98 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:01.040 subway tokens. Then, in November of nineteen eighty six, a 99 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:01.560 stroke of. 100 00:07:01.640 --> 00:07:05.560 Luck, This bill, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 101 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:07.680 nineteen eighty six, that I was signed in a few 102 00:07:07.760 --> 00:07:12.080 minutes is the most comprehensive reform of our immigration law 103 00:07:12.200 --> 00:07:13.480 since nineteen fifty two. 104 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:18.040 Lorena secured legal residency in the US through Ronald Reagan's 105 00:07:18.080 --> 00:07:21.960 immigration amnesty. With her new papers in hand, she applied 106 00:07:21.960 --> 00:07:26.200 to Medicaid and began her hormone treatment. She was able 107 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:28.320 to get a legal work permit, a new job at 108 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:32.160 a belt factory, and eventually a scholarship to Turo College, 109 00:07:32.440 --> 00:07:36.480 where she studied accounting. After school, Lorena would hang out 110 00:07:36.640 --> 00:07:38.680 at Port Authority bus terminal. 111 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:43.760 Back then, you know, we didn't really have a lot 112 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:45.360 of places to hang out. 113 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:49.760 That's Christina Herrera. She's an immigrant from mel Salvador and 114 00:07:49.880 --> 00:07:53.560 one of Lorena's oldest friends. Aside from being one of 115 00:07:53.640 --> 00:07:58.560 the country's busiest bus terminals, Gristina remembers Port Authority felt 116 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:03.160 like a mercalo, fast paced, lively gathering place and one 117 00:08:03.200 --> 00:08:06.280 of the few places where trans people didn't feel as 118 00:08:06.400 --> 00:08:09.840 targeted by the police. It was Import Authority that a 119 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:12.760 friend introduced her to Lorena in nineteen eighty six. 120 00:08:13.280 --> 00:08:15.640 She had a big smile on her face, she had 121 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:18.720 a pile of books on her hands, a big bag, 122 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.680 you know, hanging from her shoulder, and she had a 123 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:24.720 pencil on her ear, very like schoolgirl. 124 00:08:25.880 --> 00:08:30.080 Christina was fifteen years old, and Lorena's schoolgirl look stood 125 00:08:30.080 --> 00:08:33.760 out to her. At the time, higher education, a career. 126 00:08:34.160 --> 00:08:35.760 All felt out of grasp. 127 00:08:35.920 --> 00:08:39.319 Back then, like our reality was okay, so you're here 128 00:08:39.400 --> 00:08:42.640 in New York, You're gonna do sex work in order 129 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:47.320 to begin your transition for the hormones and surgeries. 130 00:08:47.800 --> 00:08:52.040 It was a reality. She started noticing around Port Authority. 131 00:08:52.040 --> 00:08:56.360 Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, like around ten pm, 132 00:08:56.880 --> 00:09:01.720 you would see this tall, slim Caribbean trans women walking 133 00:09:01.880 --> 00:09:05.960 down talleras mohernas. 134 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:08.920 From Port Authority. They would catch the seven train to 135 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:11.720 Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens. 136 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:13.719 One night, I'm like, so where are you going and 137 00:09:13.760 --> 00:09:16.000 stepping and they're like, are we going to work? 138 00:09:16.760 --> 00:09:19.600 Roosevelt Avenue had become a hub for sex work. 139 00:09:20.040 --> 00:09:22.840 When you look up and Roosevelt Avenue, you don't see 140 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:27.040 the moon and the start, you see the seventh train. 141 00:09:27.880 --> 00:09:30.760 That's Cecilia and Tilly, who will hear more from later. 142 00:09:31.400 --> 00:09:36.679 She's describing the elevated train tracks the tower above Roosevelt Avenue. 143 00:09:39.160 --> 00:09:41.640 And it's very very very known. 144 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:43.959 You see a lot of taxis and a lot of 145 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:50.439 black cars, food cars with tackles and banadas, and a 146 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:55.800 lot of people very very drunk because they are coming 147 00:09:55.920 --> 00:09:59.760 out of so many little bars. When doors open from 148 00:09:59.800 --> 00:10:05.440 the you hear music, and as the door is closing, 149 00:10:05.640 --> 00:10:09.520 that music goes away. So it's a beautiful chaos. 150 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.440 As Lorena began to transition, she felt less and less 151 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:20.040 accepted at her place of employment, and in nineteen eighty nine, 152 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.680 she decided to leave the belt factory. With a meager 153 00:10:24.760 --> 00:10:28.319 unemployment check, Lorena found herself two months behind on rent. 154 00:10:29.040 --> 00:10:31.200 A woman that she knew offered to help get her 155 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:35.000 money doing sex work. The woman began arranging clients for 156 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:45.240 her in exchange for a cut of her profits. Lorena 157 00:10:45.280 --> 00:10:47.640 say she was coerced to meet with ten clients a 158 00:10:47.760 --> 00:10:51.240 night and had no idea how much money was being 159 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:55.720 cut from her earnings. Blindley Edges, the legal director at 160 00:10:55.800 --> 00:10:59.640 Transgender Law Center and an attorney who would represent Lorena 161 00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:04.080 years later, says that these kind of situations were common. 162 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:08.520 With the combination of discrimination, inability to access employment, inability 163 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:11.559 to access housing, inability to access safety. In general, it 164 00:11:11.800 --> 00:11:16.000 creates a higher likelihood of being victimized, whether it's in 165 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:19.959 an abusive romantic relationship, familial relationship, or what I have 166 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:23.200 seen extensively becoming a victim of human trafficking. 167 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:26.560 During this time, Lorena was also a victim to abusive 168 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:29.160 partnerships where she was forced to do sex work. 169 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:32.920 Trans people are very rarely identified as victims of human trafficking, 170 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:34.880 even when the information is right there in front of 171 00:11:34.920 --> 00:11:37.599 law enforcement, social service providers, and attorneys. 172 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:41.760 Her friends say it would be years before Lorena recognized 173 00:11:41.800 --> 00:11:46.200 herself as a survivor of human trafficking victor are. 174 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:46.360 You for. 175 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:49.400 For a f. 176 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:56.720 Lorena says. It was then that she began to use drugs, 177 00:11:57.160 --> 00:11:59.880 many times provided by her clients who would pay a 178 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.240 extra for Lorena to use substances with them. Here's Christina again. 179 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:08.000 We saw additch NASA basic reality. It was like a 180 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:11.480 copy mechanism that our community was using just to kind 181 00:12:11.520 --> 00:12:12.319 of like survive. 182 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.720 But as Lorena began using drugs, the US also ramped 183 00:12:16.760 --> 00:12:20.200 up its criminalization of drugs and the expansion of policing 184 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:24.400 and communities of color. Then, in March of nineteen ninety four, 185 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:29.000 New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's administration implemented what was known 186 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.560 as quality of life policing, which aimed to quote unquote 187 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:36.679 clean up the city by allowing broader officer discretion to 188 00:12:36.880 --> 00:12:42.559 stop question frisk and arrest for minor offenses. Arrests in 189 00:12:42.640 --> 00:12:45.560 the trans community became more and more common. 190 00:12:46.160 --> 00:12:48.800 One day, I was eating a chuso an asura, like 191 00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:51.400 at nine o'clock at night, and they'd like drop it. 192 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:54.559 I'm like, why am I going to drop it? I 193 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:56.719 just bought it right now, and they're like, drop it. 194 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:57.520 You're coming in. 195 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.880 The loose language of quality of life policing made it 196 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:05.080 so that simply carrying condoms on you could be used 197 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:09.120 as evidence of prostitution. On top of that, New York's 198 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:13.880 anti loitering statutes, colloquially known as the Walking while trans Band, 199 00:13:14.400 --> 00:13:18.240 gave police the discretion to detain anyone they presumed to 200 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:27.959 be loitering for the purposes of prostitution. While the statute 201 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:32.280 was finally repealed this past February, data cided by the 202 00:13:32.400 --> 00:13:36.199 New York State Senate shows that as recent as twenty eighteen, 203 00:13:36.920 --> 00:13:40.760 ninety one percent of people arrested under this regulation were 204 00:13:40.800 --> 00:13:46.200 black and LATINX, with eighty percent identifying as women. Lorena 205 00:13:46.280 --> 00:13:50.800 says her encounters with the police were always violent and humiliating. 206 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:59.360 Irato's date PASAA is defont t the u La te Conason. 207 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:04.400 Base Lorena would face several charges for prostitution, according to Linley, 208 00:14:04.800 --> 00:14:09.520 all a direct result of human trafficking. Although Lorena hoped 209 00:14:09.559 --> 00:14:13.079 to apply for naturalization and had even studied for the test, 210 00:14:13.640 --> 00:14:16.760 her convictions made her ineligible to renew her green card 211 00:14:17.240 --> 00:14:20.800 or applied to become a US citizen. In her last arrest, 212 00:14:21.280 --> 00:14:24.840 the judge gave her a warning. One more arrest and 213 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:36.640 she would be sent back to Mexico. Carrying condoms was 214 00:14:36.800 --> 00:14:40.440 increasingly putting trans women of color at higher risk of 215 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:44.760 arrest and deportation. While HIV infection in the trans community 216 00:14:45.160 --> 00:14:46.360 continued to rise. 217 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:51.359 We were saying more of our peers become HIV positive. 218 00:14:51.560 --> 00:14:53.840 Always knew is that people were dying all the time 219 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:57.160 and getting really stick. The messages that we were getting 220 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:00.280 from media was that it was a gay illness, ending 221 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:02.480 one that was like a part of the LGBT community 222 00:15:02.640 --> 00:15:03.560 was going to die of ads. 223 00:15:04.520 --> 00:15:08.320 In the mid nineties, Lorena herself became HIV positive. 224 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:12.960 Back then, disclosing about being HIV positive was like a 225 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:16.880 really big deal. We were just afraid of rejection. So 226 00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:20.000 I don't know if she was able to speak about it. 227 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:22.720 Early in the beginning of her illness. 228 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:26.240 The crucial early stages of the epidemic were met with 229 00:15:26.440 --> 00:15:29.760 a complete lack of government response. Although cases of death 230 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:33.320 and infection from HIV rose dramatically since the virus was 231 00:15:33.400 --> 00:15:36.880 first discovered in the US in nineteen eighty one, President 232 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:40.920 Reagan did not publicly acknowledge the AIDS crisis until nineteen 233 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:45.680 eighty five. For years there was no treatment, and even 234 00:15:45.760 --> 00:15:48.640 when it became available, it came at a steep cost. 235 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:52.600 It's the only government approved AIDS drug in America at 236 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:56.320 ten thousand dollars a year cost per patient. It's prohibitively 237 00:15:56.400 --> 00:15:59.200 expensive for most and not widely available. 238 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.240 In nineteen ninety three, the CDC reported that black and 239 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:07.320 LATINX people accounted for fifty five percent of the over 240 00:16:07.560 --> 00:16:11.160 one hundred thousand AIDS cases reported in the United States 241 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:15.200 that year. Trans people faced added barriers when trying to 242 00:16:15.280 --> 00:16:15.960 access care. 243 00:16:16.520 --> 00:16:20.040 I don't believe that there were any trans led organizations. 244 00:16:20.440 --> 00:16:22.560 So a lot of times that services were like for 245 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:26.880 gay men, a lot of times we were misgendered. They 246 00:16:26.920 --> 00:16:30.120 wouldn't allow us to use her prefer name, and a 247 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:33.600 lot of it was geared towards people who were non immigrants, 248 00:16:33.680 --> 00:16:37.600 so people that spoke English people that had documentation. In 249 00:16:37.760 --> 00:16:41.560 a way, we felt like that was some of our reality. 250 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:45.000 You engage in sex work, like you make that your career, 251 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:50.960 and then you get AIDS and then you die. We 252 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:51.920 wanted more than that. 253 00:16:58.680 --> 00:17:02.760 Coming up on Latino US, Lorena decides that if her 254 00:17:02.800 --> 00:17:06.240 community isn't getting the services they need, she'll bring the 255 00:17:06.320 --> 00:17:56.920 resources to them her alganse her outreach begins, stay with us, Yes, Hey, 256 00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:01.000 We're back. And before the break, we'd been listening to 257 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:05.560 the story of the pioneering trans Latina activist Lorena Borgaz. 258 00:18:06.280 --> 00:18:08.520 In the mid nineteen nineties, at the height of the 259 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:12.800 AIDS epidemic, Lorena would develop a personal approach in order 260 00:18:12.840 --> 00:18:16.680 to connect trans immigrants and sex workers to the critical 261 00:18:16.760 --> 00:18:21.040 medical and legal resources they needed. Back Now. To producer 262 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:27.919 Julia Rocha, it. 263 00:18:28.040 --> 00:18:31.280 Was on Roosevelt Avenue in the heart of Queens that 264 00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:35.280 Lorena was witnessing her community grapple with a crisis that 265 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.280 the world didn't want to acknowledge. 266 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:48.359 Jeg Avan facilmente, mila bor jego are partillo borge potat crescendo, 267 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:52.000 moues trances a young vextando sevan moriendo. 268 00:18:52.840 --> 00:18:56.440 Lorena remembers that by the mid nineties, a condom was 269 00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:59.000 a lot more than a piece of rubber. Due to 270 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:02.760 criminalization of sex work, condoms could be used as evidence 271 00:19:02.840 --> 00:19:06.840 for prostitution charges. At the same time, trans women were 272 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:12.240 facing high rates of HIV infection. In nineteen ninety five, Lorena, 273 00:19:12.520 --> 00:19:16.879 who herself had become HIV positive, started to volunteer at 274 00:19:16.920 --> 00:19:21.200 a hospital of eight patients. Realizing that the condoms weren't 275 00:19:21.280 --> 00:19:24.520 getting to those who needed them most, she began taking 276 00:19:24.600 --> 00:19:27.960 condoms from local clinics to distribute to sex workers on 277 00:19:28.119 --> 00:19:33.560 Roosevelt Avenue. In the early years of her work, Lorena's 278 00:19:33.600 --> 00:19:37.760 office was the wheelie bag that she carried with her everywhere. 279 00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:42.520 Lorena loved to always carry like a little senior City 280 00:19:42.600 --> 00:19:46.399 Saint shopping cart. She would tuck in there like a 281 00:19:46.520 --> 00:19:50.120 lot of her olders with resources, so she would really 282 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:52.320 like pack a lot of stuff in there. I don't 283 00:19:52.359 --> 00:19:54.760 know how she would even carry it up the train 284 00:19:54.840 --> 00:19:57.520 station because some trains didn't have elevators back then. And 285 00:19:57.640 --> 00:19:59.159 I'll be like, Lorena, how do you do this? 286 00:20:00.520 --> 00:20:04.240 Walking down Roosevelt Avenue with her Carrito, Lorena got to 287 00:20:04.320 --> 00:20:07.680 know people, and everyone got to know Lorena. 288 00:20:08.320 --> 00:20:12.280 She would remember everybody's name. She would walk down Roosevelt 289 00:20:12.320 --> 00:20:15.560 Avenue like stopping people and being like, you know you 290 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:19.119 want this information or do you need any condoms? She 291 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:22.080 always had like a Walth Resources. 292 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:26.679 Labors AA GESU informata. 293 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:31.439 As she met people on Roosevelt Avenue, Lorena would connect 294 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.600 them to medical and legal services. She was building a 295 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:38.359 network and encouraging others to take on this organizing work. 296 00:20:39.400 --> 00:20:42.760 By the mid nineties, Lorena and Christina, who had just 297 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:46.080 gotten a degree in human services, wanted to create the 298 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:49.240 support networks they wish they had had when they first 299 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:50.240 arrived in New York. 300 00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:54.440 We were seeing some community members that were nearly diagnosed 301 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:56.639 and they didn't know where to live and stuff. So 302 00:20:57.600 --> 00:21:01.320 I would take them in similar to you know, it's 303 00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:05.640 like Latino culture on the cave ds. You know, even 304 00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:08.440 if it's a little studio, ten of us can fit here. 305 00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:13.919 Lorena felt there were no spaces specifically for trans Latinas, 306 00:21:14.280 --> 00:21:18.800 transsex workers and HIV positive trans women, so she created 307 00:21:18.840 --> 00:21:22.920 those spaces in her own apartment, known as La Caajai 308 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:27.800 Los Rios. The Matchbox Lorena Studio became a welcome center 309 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:31.080 for transwomen who would find themselves without a place to go. 310 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:35.840 If they fled violence and discrimination in Latin America, if 311 00:21:35.880 --> 00:21:39.160 they were evicted, if they were released from prison, if 312 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:42.440 they were ostracized from their families, they would all find 313 00:21:42.560 --> 00:21:44.760 refuge and a home with Lorena. 314 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:49.240 Back in the mid nineties, there were central for this 315 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:53.760 is controlled HIV intervention which was like a safety net party. 316 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:56.760 And like a safety net party was that you gather 317 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.320 a group of friends and you invite them to your 318 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:05.640 house and you provide them with HIV prevention, education and condoms. 319 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:09.560 If an agency wanted to provide HIV testing, you would 320 00:22:09.600 --> 00:22:11.639 invite into your house and they would do the testing 321 00:22:11.840 --> 00:22:14.720 in the bathroom. And so Lorena I used to love 322 00:22:14.840 --> 00:22:16.200 to do those groups at her house. 323 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:19.840 Most of this would be unpaid work and the costs 324 00:22:19.840 --> 00:22:22.320 would come out of her own pocket from the money 325 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:24.840 she would get cleaning houses and from sex work. 326 00:22:25.280 --> 00:22:28.120 A little by little bit, her mission to really save 327 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:33.840 lives also helped her propel herself to at different place 328 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:37.960 where she saved herself. She got cleaned from drugs, she 329 00:22:38.040 --> 00:22:41.520 stopped drinking, She was in recovery for many many years. 330 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:45.960 Lorena would go on to host the first transcenered HIV 331 00:22:46.040 --> 00:22:49.600 support groups at the Eighth Center of Queen's County, but 332 00:22:49.760 --> 00:22:53.520 even as she partnered with local organizations, she never left 333 00:22:53.560 --> 00:22:57.280 behind her outreach on Roosevelt Avenue. It was through her 334 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:01.160 alganse one night in two thousand and five that Lorena 335 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:06.080 met Cecilia and Tilly. Cecilia, who had fled gender discrimination 336 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:09.040 in Argentina, had moved to New York in two thousand 337 00:23:09.040 --> 00:23:11.960 and four, and she was making good money as an escort. 338 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:16.600 I was invited to go to a club call Atlantis 339 00:23:16.760 --> 00:23:20.160 at the time, which later became Evolution. 340 00:23:23.280 --> 00:23:26.280 When she arrived at the club pounding with loud music, 341 00:23:26.800 --> 00:23:29.960 Lorena was at the front door giving out condoms. 342 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:33.200 And when she saw me, I could see the excitement 343 00:23:33.320 --> 00:23:36.760 in her and I remember she saying like, oh you 344 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:41.320 brokeet pra Oh you're very beautiful where you come from? 345 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:42.720 And she asked me a couple of questions. 346 00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:46.960 Cecilia asked what she was doing, and Lorena explained. 347 00:23:47.280 --> 00:23:50.080 I remember she called it I can't say. I used 348 00:23:50.119 --> 00:23:51.720 to ask HER's like, what is I can say, what 349 00:23:51.800 --> 00:23:53.639 does that mean? And she said I can't say it 350 00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:56.240 Like when you go to the people, you go to 351 00:23:56.359 --> 00:23:58.520 the Street, and I thought her she was a little 352 00:23:58.560 --> 00:24:02.520 bit too invasive for me. And I was living and 353 00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:06.120 feeling and doing fabulous, you know, at the same time, 354 00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:08.720 I was also using a lot of drugs. 355 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.960 Life would reunite Lorena and Cecilia a few years later 356 00:24:17.520 --> 00:24:19.640 at a different moment in Cecilia's life. 357 00:24:20.280 --> 00:24:25.359 Because of that specific addiction, I lost my apartment and 358 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:31.639 I became homeless, and I started getting arrested and going 359 00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:35.480 back to do street sex work. And one of those 360 00:24:35.600 --> 00:24:39.600 days I ended up going to work on roosewellt Avenue 361 00:24:40.600 --> 00:24:44.399 and there she was again offering me condoms like she 362 00:24:44.520 --> 00:24:48.440 did years before, and this time I needed it. 363 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:55.920 Cecilia remembers how Lorena approached her with the same warmth 364 00:24:56.119 --> 00:24:59.680 as the first time they met. Lorena offered Cecilia about 365 00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:03.040 to eat and advice about staying safe on Roosevelt Avenue. 366 00:25:04.760 --> 00:25:08.440 Cecilia would soon find herself in a trafficking situation, and 367 00:25:08.680 --> 00:25:10.639 when one of the houses that she was working at 368 00:25:10.840 --> 00:25:15.320 was raided, she too experienced the criminal justice deportation pipeline, 369 00:25:15.840 --> 00:25:19.320 going from Rikers Island to an iced detention center until 370 00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:22.000 she was finally released with an inkle bracelet and was 371 00:25:22.040 --> 00:25:26.280 able to access long term substance treatment. Her case manager 372 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:30.160 recommended Cecilia support services at the LGBTQ Center. 373 00:25:30.680 --> 00:25:34.160 I started going to meetings in Jackson Heights that where 374 00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:39.639 in Spanish, and guess who was there, Lorena war Has Again. 375 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:43.160 Cecilia began to look at Lorena's work differently. 376 00:25:43.600 --> 00:25:45.359 I wanted to give, like you know that person that 377 00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:47.680 it was myself a couple of years ago who was 378 00:25:47.800 --> 00:25:52.159 like using drugs, working in the street, access to healthcare. 379 00:25:52.320 --> 00:25:54.879 So I asked Lorena, you have to connect me with 380 00:25:55.320 --> 00:25:57.840 the girls, and she says, like, no, I'm not going 381 00:25:57.880 --> 00:25:59.639 to connect you with the girls. If you want, you 382 00:25:59.760 --> 00:26:03.200 can with me and do our reach like what she 383 00:26:03.280 --> 00:26:04.880 told me the first time, I can say. 384 00:26:05.560 --> 00:26:08.760 Lorena invited Cecilia to walk with her as she distributed 385 00:26:08.800 --> 00:26:10.360 condoms on Roosevelt Avenue. 386 00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:13.320 The first time, I made a terrible mistake of going 387 00:26:13.400 --> 00:26:16.800 on high heels and looking like professional. I had to 388 00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:20.119 leave right away because I couldn't talk on his She says, like, 389 00:26:20.280 --> 00:26:23.240 no girl to dinner Kevin in Chang class. 390 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:26.760 Next time Cecilia joined Lorena, she got to see more 391 00:26:26.760 --> 00:26:29.840 of her strategy. Word on the street was that having 392 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:32.440 three condoms or more would get you in trouble with 393 00:26:32.560 --> 00:26:33.080 the police. 394 00:26:33.600 --> 00:26:38.840 So Lorena walk up and down Roosevelt Avenue and she 395 00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:42.520 always want the girls to have two condoms with them. 396 00:26:43.040 --> 00:26:46.000 Every time that you use one day co Lorena and 397 00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:48.439 Lorena would run and give them another one. So they 398 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:52.160 always have two condoms, but they never have three condoms. 399 00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:56.480 But they always have condoms. But the problem was these 400 00:26:57.320 --> 00:27:02.720 that while all these girls were walking Roosevelt Avenue with 401 00:27:02.920 --> 00:27:10.280