05/01/2020
Today is one month since due to the COVID19 Epidemic ACQC has lost an extraordinary colleague and long time friend. Lorena your sudden death has touched our live and hearts, the way you have inspired us has touched us even more. We will always remember you!
Lorena was known as the mother of the trans Latin community in Queens, she earned the reputation through a roughly 30-year career as a community organizer. Beyond leading some of the first marches to specifically honor the trans women of Jackson Heights, Lorena advocated for her sisters through organizing HIV testing opportunities for trans s*x workers, establishing a fund that would bail out folks who were arrested on prostitution charges, and through working for a syringe-exchange programs at ACQC to protect trans women taking hormone injections. She was a leader in her community, a voice of wisdom, and a guide for activists in generations to come.
She was like the social worker in the trans community, Lorena guided other trans and gay immigrants to the resources she had found.
Lorena walked up and down the streets in her neighborhood of Jackson Heights, handing out free condoms to s*x workers. She has done more than anyone to shine a light on the epidemic of trafficking in transgender communities and to help other trans women escape exploitation.
