amp.theguardian.com Open in urlscan Pro
2a04:4e42:400::367  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

POST

<form id="reminderForm" data-amp-bind-hidden="epicState.reminder.hideReminderForm" method="post" action-xhr="https://contributions.guardianapis.com/amp/set_reminder" target="_blank" custom-validation-reporting="interact-and-submit"
  enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
  on="submit-success:AMP.setState({epicState:{reminder:{hideReminderCta: true, hideSuccessMessage: false, hideReminderForm: true, headerText: 'Thank you! Your reminder is set.'}}});submit-error:AMP.setState({epicState:{reminder:{hideFailureMessage:false}}})">
  <div class="dcr-amp-1d7zodn">Email address</div>
  <div visible-when-invalid="typeMismatch" validation-for="email" class="dcr-amp-1pkyyfr"><svg viewBox="0 0 30 30" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="dcr-amp-1wc9szu">
      <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd"
        d="M14.41 5L4 22.057l.668.943h20.664l.668-.943L15.59 5h-1.18zm-.063 12.178h1.306l.621-6.917-.856-.728h-.835l-.857.728.62 6.917zM15 18.452c.7 0 1.274.573 1.274 1.274 0 .7-.573 1.274-1.274 1.274-.7 0-1.274-.573-1.274-1.274 0-.7.573-1.274 1.274-1.274z">
      </path>
    </svg>Please enter a valid email address</div>
  <div visible-when-invalid="valueMissing" validation-for="email" class="dcr-amp-1pkyyfr"><svg viewBox="0 0 30 30" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="dcr-amp-1wc9szu">
      <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd"
        d="M14.41 5L4 22.057l.668.943h20.664l.668-.943L15.59 5h-1.18zm-.063 12.178h1.306l.621-6.917-.856-.728h-.835l-.857.728.62 6.917zM15 18.452c.7 0 1.274.573 1.274 1.274 0 .7-.573 1.274-1.274 1.274-.7 0-1.274-.573-1.274-1.274 0-.7.573-1.274 1.274-1.274z">
      </path>
    </svg>Please enter your email address</div><input type="hidden" name="isPreContribution" value="true"><input type="hidden" name="reminderDate" data-amp-bind-value="epicState.reminder.reminderPeriod"><input id="email" name="email" type="email"
    required="" class="dcr-amp-17uc6hk"><button on="tap:reminderForm.submit" class="dcr-amp-1rkpz1l">Set a reminder<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 20 17.89" preserveAspectRatio="xMinYMid" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"
      class="dcr-amp-p651nl">
      <path d="M20 9.35l-9.08 8.54-.86-.81 6.54-7.31H0V8.12h16.6L10.06.81l.86-.81L20 8.51v.84z"></path>
    </svg></button>
  <div data-amp-bind-hidden="epicState.reminder.hideFailureMessage" class="dcr-amp-akr4vh">Sorry we couldn't set a reminder for you this time. Please try again later.</div>
  <div class="dcr-amp-cse2h4">We will send you a maximum of two emails in <span data-amp-bind-text="epicState.reminder.reminderLabel"></span>. To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, view our
    <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy">Privacy Policy</a>.</div>
</form>

Text Content

User Consent Prompt
Focus Prompt
Support us
The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian: news website of the year
 * News
 * Opinion
 * Sport
 * Culture
 * Lifestyle

Show captionFuneral of Cecilia Gentili took place at St Patrick's Cathedral on
Thursday.<br> Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
New York


NEW YORK ARCHDIOCESE CALLS FUNERAL FOR TRANS ACTIVIST AT CATHEDRAL ‘SCANDALOUS’

Pastor of St Patrick’s Cathedral condemns service for Cecilia Gentili after she
was celebrated as being ‘mother of all whores’

Edward Helmore in New York City
Sun 18 Feb 2024 10.47 EST
 * Share on Facebook
 * Share on Twitter
 * Share via Email

The Roman Catholic archdiocese of New York City has condemned a funeral service
for transgender activist Cecilia Gentili at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral after
congregants cheered her for being celebrated as “the mother of all whores”.

The packed funeral took place on Thursday, 10 days after the Argentinian-born
Gentili, 52, died at her Brooklyn home.

Gentili was an activist and actor known for her advocacy on behalf of sex
workers, as well as a self-professed atheist, drug addict and author of Faltas:
Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist. Her cause of death has
not been revealed.

Ad


Ad


The archdiocese condemned the funeral, saying some mourners behaved scandalously
at the service, which featured a turnout closer in number to the midtown
Manhattan cathedral’s jam-packed Easter mass than a normal Thursday, with many
transgender congregants lavishly dressed for Gentili’s send-off.

The archdiocese released a statement on Saturday saying it had “no idea our
welcome and prayer would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and deceptive way”.
The pastor of Saint Patrick’s, Enrique Salvo, said the church was not aware of
Gentili’s background or beliefs when it booked the service.

Before the service was held, the archdiocese had described it as a routine event
and had been informed that Gentili was a transgender activist.

“The cathedral only knew that family and friends were requesting a funeral
mass,” he said. Yet some mourners then exhibited “scandalous behaviour”, the
church said.



The church said it did not take issue with Gentili’s sexuality. But the church
objected to the actions of some of the mourners, including some who cheered
loudly when Gentili was hailed as “Santa Cecilia, la madre de todos las putas” –
which is Spanish for “Saint Cecilia, the mother of all whores”.

CatholicVote called the funeral “unbelievable and sick” and said it was “a
mockery of the Christian faith”. Among other critics, Nicholas Gregoris of the
Priestly Society of Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman called Gentili’s service
“revolting” and a “desecration” of the US’s most famous Catholic church.

But on the ideological flip side of the faith, Catholic liberals said the church
had done a good thing by hosting the service for a transgender woman. Before the
backlash took hold, archdiocese spokesperson Joseph Zwilling said that “a
funeral is one of the corporal works of mercy”.



The organizer of the funeral, Ceyenne Doroshow, told the New York Times that
Gentili’s family had kept her background “under wraps” from the church. And
Doroshow said she had wanted to her funeral to be at Saint Patrick’s because “it
is an icon, just like her”.

Gentili’s family later said that the archdiocese had acted with “hypocrisy and
anti-trans hatred,” and the queer community would continue to celebrate her for
how she “ministered, mothered and loved all people”.

“Her heart and hands reached those the sanctimonious church continues to
belittle, oppress and chastise,” the family said. “The only deception present at
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is that it claims to be a welcoming place for all.”

According to Vogue, Gentili’s funeral began with a song by her Pose co-star
Billy Porter. “We’re going to think of her in another realm,” Doroshow told the
congregants. “In a place where everything is beautiful and shiny.”



The crowd went wild during the ceremony when Gentili was crowned “madre de las
putas,” Vogue noted.

“It’s Cecilia day,” artist and organizer Rio Sofia said. “She’s an immigrant, so
it’s international. It’s a day to celebrate the fact that we flooded Saint
Patrick’s Cathedral with trans people. That was nothing less than historic.”

Organizer Fran Tirado said that being called a whore was one of the highest
compliments Gentili could give. “Cecilia was never a victim,” Rio Sofia recently
wrote online. Sex work, to Gentili, was work just like any other.

In an interview with the Guardian last year, Gentili said: “Sex work, not for
nothing, is the oldest profession. People need to survive. And we’re not going
anywhere.”


{{#ticker}}

{{topLeft}}

{{bottomLeft}}

{{topRight}}

{{bottomRight}}

{{#goalExceededMarkerPercentage}}

{{/goalExceededMarkerPercentage}}

{{/ticker}}


{{HEADING}}

{{#paragraphs}}

{{.}}

{{/paragraphs}}{{highlightedText}}
{{#choiceCards}}


One-timeMonthlyAnnual

Other
{{/choiceCards}}
{{#cta}}{{text}}{{/cta}}


Email address
Please enter a valid email address
Please enter your email address
Set a reminder
Sorry we couldn't set a reminder for you this time. Please try again later.
We will send you a maximum of two emails in . To find out what personal data we
collect and how we use it, view our Privacy Policy.
We will be in touch to remind you to contribute. Look out for a message in your
inbox in . If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us.

Topics
 * New York

 * Catholicism
 * LGBTQ+ rights
 * news

 * Share on Facebook
 * Share on Twitter
 * Share via Email
 * Share on LinkedIn
 * Share on WhatsApp
 * Share on Messenger

View on theguardian.com
{{#showContent}}
{{displayName}}
{{#description}}
{{description}}
{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}


{{#ISVIDEO}}{{/ISVIDEO}}{{#ISGALLERY}}{{/ISGALLERY}}{{#ISAUDIO}}{{/ISAUDIO}}{{#ISCOMMENT}}{{/ISCOMMENT}}{{HEADLINE}}

{{#isComment}}
{{byline}}
{{/isComment}}
{{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}
{{headline}}
{{/headline}}{{/content}}
{{/showContent}}
Show more

{{#showContent}}
{{displayName}}
{{#description}}
{{description}}
{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}


{{#ISVIDEO}}{{/ISVIDEO}}{{#ISGALLERY}}{{/ISGALLERY}}{{#ISAUDIO}}{{/ISAUDIO}}{{#ISCOMMENT}}{{/ISCOMMENT}}{{HEADLINE}}

{{#isComment}}
{{byline}}
{{/isComment}}
{{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}
{{headline}}
{{/headline}}{{/content}}
{{/showContent}}
Show more

{{#showContent}}
{{displayName}}
{{#description}}
{{description}}
{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}


{{#ISVIDEO}}{{/ISVIDEO}}{{#ISGALLERY}}{{/ISGALLERY}}{{#ISAUDIO}}{{/ISAUDIO}}{{#ISCOMMENT}}{{/ISCOMMENT}}{{HEADLINE}}

{{#isComment}}
{{byline}}
{{/isComment}}
{{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}
{{headline}}
{{/headline}}{{/content}}
{{/showContent}}
Show more

{{#showContent}}
{{displayName}}
{{#description}}
{{description}}
{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}


{{#ISVIDEO}}{{/ISVIDEO}}{{#ISGALLERY}}{{/ISGALLERY}}{{#ISAUDIO}}{{/ISAUDIO}}{{#ISCOMMENT}}{{/ISCOMMENT}}{{HEADLINE}}

{{#isComment}}
{{byline}}
{{/isComment}}
{{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}
{{headline}}
{{/headline}}{{/content}}
{{/showContent}}
Show more

 * About us
 * Contact us
 * Complaints and corrections
 * SecureDrop
 * Work for us
 * Privacy settings
 * Privacy policy
 * Cookie policy
 * Terms & conditions
 * Help

 * All topics
 * All writers
 * Modern Slavery Act
 * Digital newspaper archive
 * Facebook
 * Twitter

 * Advertise with us
 * Search jobs
 * Patrons

Support the Guardian
Support us
Back to top
© 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights
reserved.
Close the sidebar
   {{ #topLevelSections }}


 * {{ TITLE }}
   
      {{ #subSections }}
    * {{ title }}
      {{ /subSections }}

   {{ /topLevelSections }}

   {{ #readerRevenueLinks }}
 * {{ title }}
   {{ /readerRevenueLinks }}
 * Sign in / Register


SWITCH EDITION

   {{ #editions }}
 * {{ displayName }}
   {{ /editions }}

   {{ #secondarySections }}
 * {{ title }}
   {{ /secondarySections }}


Close the sidebar