Friends of Cecilia Gentili said she repaid the city she loved by fighting for the rights of trans people and sex workers.

“She’s a human rights leader that fought so much for trans equity, and making sure trans people in this city and all over the world have respect and dignity wherever they show up,” said Black Trans Liberation founder Qween Jean.

Mourners gathered at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village on Wednesday to remember Gentili.

The trans activist died suddenly on Tuesday, nearly a week after her 52nd birthday.

Gentili brought visibility to trans people both on television shows like POSE and through her community advocacy.

In 2019, she founded the company Transgender Equity Consulting. That same year, she also launched Cecilia’s Operational Inclusion Network or COIN, a free health clinic for sex workers.

“She had such an incredible warmth when she walked through a room. She had an incredible depth of knowledge about the issues,” said City Councilmember Erik Bottcher.

Political leaders like Gov. Kathy Hochul and State Attorney General Letitia James were some of the other elected officials to remember Gentili.

Outside Gentili’s advocacy work, her focus was on her family and her community.

“She’s the kind of person that’s serious about policy and the work, but at home, she’s serious about her husband Peter and her children and family,” said close friend Ceyenne Doroshow.

Gentili’s impact was seen by the hundreds of people who packed into Judson Memorial Church to continue her legacy.

“[She was] someone whose vivacious energy touched all of us very deeply in the way she redefined kinship and motherhood and what it meant to belong in this city,” said close friend Oscar Diaz.

No cause of death has been released.