The pews of St. Patrick’s Cathedral have been packed on Thursday for an occasion with no seemingly precedent in Catholic historical past: the funeral of Cecilia Gentili, a transgender activist and actress, former intercourse employee and self-professed atheist whose memorial functioned as each a celebration of her life and an exuberant piece of political theater.
Over 1,000 mourners, a number of hundred of whom have been transgender, arrived in daring outfits — glittery miniskirts and halter tops, fishnet stockings, luxurious fur stoles and not less than one boa sewed from $100 payments. Mass playing cards and an image close to the altar confirmed a haloed Ms. Gentili surrounded by the Spanish phrases for “transvestite,” “whore,” “blessed” and “mom” above the textual content of Psalm 25.
That St. Patrick’s Cathedral would host the funeral for a high-profile transgender activist, who was well-known for her advocacy on behalf of intercourse staff, transgender individuals and other people dwelling with H.I.V., may come as a shock to some.
Not far more than a era in the past, on the heights of the AIDS disaster, the cathedral was a flashpoint in conflicts between homosexual activists and the Catholic Church, whose opposition to homosexuality and condom use enraged the group. The towering neo-Gothic constructing turned the positioning of headline-grabbing protests by which activists chained themselves to the pews and lay down within the aisles.
The church has softened its tone on these points lately, and New York’s present cardinal, Timothy Dolan, has stated the church needs to be extra welcoming of homosexual individuals. Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, didn’t reply to questions on whether or not the church had been conscious of Ms. Gentili’s background when it agreed to host her funeral.
On Wednesday, he stated that “if a request is available in for a funeral from a Catholic, the cathedral does its finest to accommodate.”
New York Metropolis is residence to roughly a dozen gay-friendly Catholic parishes, however St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the seat of the archdiocese, will not be one in all them.
Ceyenne Doroshow, who organized the funeral, stated mates of Ms. Gentili — who died on Feb. 6 at 52 — had wished the service to be at St. Patrick’s as a result of “it’s an icon, identical to her.” However she added that she had not talked about that Ms. Gentili was transgender when planning with the church. “I sort of saved it beneath wraps,” she stated.
Ms. Gentili’s dying got here at a politically fraught time for transgender individuals, as states throughout the nation limit entry their entry to well being care and public lodging. Spiritual teams have performed an energetic position in these efforts, however on the identical time Pope Francis has taken steps towards inclusivity, saying final yr that transgender individuals may be baptized, function godparents and be witnesses at church weddings.
Mr. Zwilling stated he didn’t know whether or not or not Ms. Gentili had attended Mass on the cathedral, or if every other transgender individuals had had their funerals there. However he stated that “a funeral is without doubt one of the corporal works of mercy,” part of Catholic instructing that the church has described as “a mannequin for the way we must always deal with all others, as in the event that they have been Christ in disguise.”
The priest’s remarks didn’t handle the specifics of Ms. Gentili’s life. Because the service started, the priest, the Rev. Edward Dougherty, stated it was the biggest crowd he had seen since Easter Sunday. That remark drew the primary of a number of rounds of cheers, chants and standing ovations.
At one level, a good friend of Ms. Gentili’s took the lectern to hope for entry to gender-affirming well being care. At one other, a mourner upstaged a priest singing “Ave Maria,” altering the lyrics to “Ave Cecilia.” She then danced by means of the aisles, crimson scarves twirling round her.
Later within the day, a number of individuals who attended a Mass on the cathedral stated they have been happy it had hosted Ms. Gentili’s funeral.
Carlos Nunez, 43, who lives in Manhattan and works in customer support, stated he thought the funeral was correct.
“Why not?” he stated, leaving the cathedral. “All people has the appropriate to come back to church. All people is a baby of God.”
Michael Minogue, 67, stated he had reconsidered a few of his personal views after a good friend died of AIDS within the Nineteen Eighties. He stated it struck him as benevolent — on the a part of the church and mourners alike — that Ms. Gentili had her funeral within the cathedral.
“It signifies a bit extra tolerance on either side,” he stated.
Ms. Gentili was an atheist, however her one-woman Off Broadway present, “Pink Ink,” explored her encounters with the divine in surprising locations. In an interview final fall, she stated she had “by no means had alternatives to expertise a religion that was totally embracing of me” as a transgender particular person however had not too long ago begun attending companies once more at numerous church buildings.
The Rev. James Martin, a well known Jesuit author who advocates a extra inclusive strategy from the church, stated it was “fantastic” that St. Patrick’s had agreed to carry Ms. Gentili’s funeral.
“To have fun the funeral Mass of a transgender lady at St. Patrick’s is a strong reminder, throughout Lent, that L.G.B.T.Q. individuals are as a lot part of the church as anybody else,” he stated. “I ponder if it will have occurred a era in the past.”
On the time, the town’s AIDS disaster had plunged the church’s fraught relations with the town’s homosexual and transgender group to a brand new a low.
Within the late ’80s, Cardinal John O’Connor, the chief of the archdiocese, barred a homosexual Catholic group from assembly at their longtime church and stated AIDS was unfold by means of “sexual aberrations or drug abuse.” He additionally stated the recommendation to make use of condoms to cease the unfold of the illness was based mostly on “lies.”
In 1989, greater than 4,000 individuals protested outdoors St. Patrick’s, and protesters chanted and chained themselves to the pews inside. The police arrested 111 individuals through the protest, which turned a touchstone within the metropolis’s homosexual historical past.
The organizers of Ms. Gentili’s funeral stated they hoped it will go down as a equally necessary second for the group. And as pallbearers walked Ms. Gentili’s coffin again up the aisle on the finish of the service, chants as soon as once more echoed by means of the nave of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
“Cecilia! Cecilia! Cecilia!”
Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
