Lorena Borjas

Lorena Borjas (May 29, 1960 – March 30, 2020) was a Mexican-American transgender and immigrant rights activist, known as the mother of the transgender Latinx community in Queens, New York.[2][3] Her work on behalf of immigrant and transgender communities garnered recognition throughout New York City and the United States.[4][5] She lived for many years in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, where she was a community figure and leader.[6]

Lorena Borjas
Lorena Borjas in 2019
Born(1960-05-29)May 29, 1960[1]
Veracruz, Mexico
DiedMarch 30, 2020(2020-03-30) (aged 59)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
NationalityMexican
OccupationTransgender and immigrant rights activist
Years activec. 1995–2020

Early life and education

In 1960, Borjas was born in Veracruz, Mexico. When she was seventeen years old, she ran away from home and lived on the streets of Mexico City.[7] She later studied public accounting in Mexico City.[8][1]

Emigration

In 1981, Borjas emigrated to the United States at twenty years old, with the goal of obtaining hormone therapy and transitioning to live as a woman.[5][4] Taking a job in a belt factory,[1] she initially shared an apartment in the New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens[9] with 20 transgender women who worked as sex workers.[4] As a young woman, Borjas aided the women she lived with, along with other transgender sex workers. Initially, she primarily provided aid to Mexican transgender women, but she later expanded to help all Latin American trans women.[4] As she explained,

"We were women without families and who had run away from our countries, persecuted for expressing our identity, for being ourselves. Here in New York, we did not have the life and freedom we had been dreaming about. We also endured violence and abuse here. In those days, it was a real crime to be a transgender immigrant of color.”[9]

In 1986, Borjas was granted amnesty, under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.[10] In 1990, Borjas became a legal permanent resident of the United States. In 2019, Borjas became a U.S. citizen.[11]

Challenges

Borjas experienced many challenges in the 1990s. She became addicted to crack cocaine. As a result, she began to engage in riskier sex work. She ultimately found herself in a relationship in which she was a victim of sex trafficking. She was arrested many times during this period, which made her ineligible for green card renewal or naturalization. In the late 1990s, she escaped from the abusive relationship and overcame her drug addiction.[7]

Borjas was HIV-positive, and she saw many of her friends pass away due to HIV-related illnesses.[7]

Activism

In 1995, Borjas decided to make activism her life's work.[9] For decades, Borjas worked to protect transgender victims of human trafficking (which she herself had experienced), slavery, and violence.[4][2] She hosted women who had been ostracized from their families in her own apartment until they were able to support themselves.[2] She walked the streets seeking women who needed her help, providing condoms and food, and connecting these women to social services.[2] She worked without pay to facilitate access to HIV testing and hormone therapy for transgender sex workers, including setting up a weekly HIV testing clinic in her home, and providing syringe exchanges for women taking hormone injections.[5][4][2] In 1995, she organized her first march in support of the transgender community.[5]

As reflected by Cecilia Gentili, a friend and a transgender leader:

"Needed a lawyer? Doctor? Housing? A job? She was there. Lorena was that person who, if you got arrested, you called her at three in the morning and she would answer. First thing in the morning she would be in court with a lawyer to get you out of jail."[6]

Borjas became involved in local nonprofit organizations as well. She first came the Sylvia Rivera Law Project as a client. She eventually began working for the project on immigration and criminal justice issues.[10] With Chase Strangio, Borjas founded the Lorena Borjas Community Fund, which provides bail assistance to LGBT defendants.[2] She became a counselor for the Community Healthcare Network's Transgender Family Program, where she worked to obtain legal aid for victims of human trafficking.[4]

During the coronavirus pandemic, Borjas created and promoted a mutual aid fund, via GoFundMe, to help transgender people who were impacted by the economic crisis.[12]

Borjas was not paid for the majority of her activism. She supported herself through a variety of jobs, including counseling sessions, community outreach, occasional talks, and cleaning houses.[7]

Borjas founded the first community organization for TransGNB and LGBTQI people in Queens: Colectivo Intercultural Transgrediendo.[13]

Awards and honors

Borjas earned honors from former Mayor David Dinkins, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. In 2019, she was declared a New York Woman of Distinction in the State Senate.[14] Following her death, New York City Council member Francisco Moya announced plans to rename a street in his district, where Borjas lived, after her.[15]

In June 2020, Borjas was added among American “pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes” on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument (SNM) in New York City’s Stonewall Inn.[16][17][18] The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history.[19]

In 1994, Borjas was arrested and found guilty of facilitating a crime in the fourth degree, a charge dating back to her early years in the U.S., when Borjas was, in fact, a victim of trafficking and forced prostitution.[4][20] She lost the immigration status she had gained under a 1986 amnesty law and lived under the threat of deportation.[4] Starting in 2010, Borjas sought to have her own criminal record expunged, with the legal support of the Transgender Law Center.[4][21] In recognition of her community activism, she was granted a pardon in 2017 by New York governor Andrew Cuomo, restoring her status as a legal immigrant, an outcome she had considered "farfetched and nearly impossible."[4]

Death

Borjas died at Coney Island Hospital on March 30, 2020 at 5:22 am,[10] aged 59, from complications of COVID-19.[3][2][22] She received memorials and tributes online from many public figures, including Chase Strangio,[9] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,[23] Letitia James, Corey Johnson, and Monica Roberts.[10] A funeral service was organized by friends and loved ones via Zoom, due to social distancing restrictions, with about 250 people in attendance.[7][10]

References
  1. Borjas, Lorena. "Biography". LorenaBorjas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  2. Maurice, Emma Powys (March 30, 2020). "Tributes pour in for pioneering transgender Latinx activist Lorena Borjas who has died from coronavirus". PinkNews. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  3. Gentili, Cecilia [@CeciliaGentili] (March 30, 2020). "It is with a heavy heart I have to inform that this morning at 5:22 AM. Lorena Borjas, mother of the Trans Latinx community of Queens passed away. Rest in peace" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. Cortés, Zaira (December 28, 2017). "Activista mexicana iniciará nueva vida gracias a indulto de Cuomo" [Mexican activist will start a new life thanks to Cuomo's pardon]. El Diario Nueva York (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  5. Duran, Eddy (ed.). "The Story of Lorena Borjas: The Transgender Latina Activist". Queens Stories. Queens Public Television. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  6. "Beloved Queens-based trans advocate Lorena Borjas dies of coronavirus". QNS.com. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  7. Gessen, Masha. "Remembering Lorena Borjas, the Mother of a Trans Latinx Community". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  8. "Lorena Borjas". TransLatina Coalition. Archived from the original on April 27, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  9. Sanders, Wren. "Lorena Borjas, Mother of Queens' Trans Latinx Community, Has Died Due to Coronavirus". them. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  10. Kaur, Harmeet. "Lorena Borjas, a transgender Latina activist who fought for immigrants and sex workers, has died of Covid-19". CNN. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  11. Slotnik, Daniel E. (April 1, 2020). "Lorena Borjas, Transgender Immigrant Activist, Dies at 59". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 1, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  12. "Beloved NYC Transgender Advocate Lorena Borjas Dies After Contracting COVID-19". Democracy Now!. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  13. www.ourvoicesarefree.org
  14. Merlino, Victoria (March 30, 2020). "Queens honors trailblazing transgender activist who died of covid-19". Queens Eagle.
  15. Moya, Francisco [@FranciscoMoyaNY] (March 31, 2020). "So sorry to learn about the passing of #LorenaBorjas. In honor of her leadership and activism, I am proud to announce that I will be renaming the street on 83rd between Roosevelt & 37th after her. My heart goes out to her family,friends,& our trans community as we mourn her loss" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. Glasses-Baker, Becca (June 27, 2019). "National LGBTQ Wall of Honor unveiled at Stonewall Inn". www.metro.us. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  17. SDGLN, Timothy Rawles-Community Editor for (June 19, 2019). "National LGBTQ Wall of Honor to be unveiled at historic Stonewall Inn". San Diego Gay and Lesbian News. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  18. "New honorees named for Nat'l LGBTQ Wall of Honor at Stonewall Inn". Windy City Times. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  19. "Groups seek names for Stonewall 50 honor wall". The Bay Area Reporter / B.A.R. Inc. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  20. Williams, Zach (December 29, 2017). "Cuomo's snub to Trump allows nonprofit leader Lorena Borjas to continue work in LGBT community". New York Nonprofit Media. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  21. "Lorena Borjas". Transgender Law Center. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  22. Tracy, Matt (March 30, 2020). "Beloved Queens-based trans advocate Lorena Borjas dies of coronavirus". QNS. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  23. "Lorena Borjas, Pioneering Transgender Latina Activist in NYC, Dies From COVID-19". NBC New York. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
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