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Tributes to Pioneering Trans Activists Cecilia Gentili and Kathy Ottersten
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Tune into Out-FM on Tues., February 20, 2024 from 8:00-9:00 pm EST, on 99.5 FM WBAI/NY or listen live at https://www.wbai.org/listen-live/
Press Play button to stream, or green download buttons below - to download the program sound file.
Cecilia Gentili: Pioneering TransLatina Activist Remembered
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Cecilia Gentili (l) and Pauline Park (r)
On Tuesday's program, Pauline Park will pay tribute to Cecilia Gentili following the death of the pioneering translatina activist who emigrated from Argentina and survived sex trafficking, rising to become a major advocate for services for the transgender community and the decriminalization of sex work. Even in death, Cecilia caused a ruckus with a funeral service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan that outraged transphobic right-wing Catholics. For more information about Cecilia, read Pauline Park’s essay, "Cecilia Gentili & her legacy of transgender activism & decriminalization advocacy work."
Hashtags: #CeciliaGentili #Cecilia #CeciliaPresente #transgender #translatina #SexWorkIsWork #Decriminalize #Decriminalization
Tribute to Trans/Intersex AIDS/Queer Activist Kathy Ottersten
Illustration: Allan C. Carandang
From Jewish Currents, Fall 2023 issue
In our second half, we pay tribute to a courageous trans and intersex AIDS and trans rights activist originally from New York, who died on January 31 at age 57 in their adopted home of Fairbanks, Alaska. Kathy Ottersten was born intersex, came out as bisexual in their early teens, later identified as a lesbian trans woman and more recently identified as nonbinary and used the pronoun “they.” Starting at age 19, they threw themselves into social justice activism on a range of intersectional issues. In 2018 they became the second openly intersex person elected to public office in the U.S., winning a seat on the Fairbanks City Council. Out-FM’s Bob Lederer interviewed Hannah Gold, a journalist and adjunct professor at Columbia University and Pratt Institute, who interviewed Kathy in 2021 for the online magazine Jewish Currents. For Hannah's moving Feb. 2024 tribute to Kathy, click here.
In 1991, Kathy was one of eight ACT UP members and independent activists who distributed clean needles on the streets of Manhattan, becoming defendants in a critical test case. Those defendants mounted a necessity defense, calling expert witnesses to explain how needle exchange programs had been scientifically shown to reduce HIV infections and save lives, and they won an acquittal, thereby helping to legalize the harm reduction practice of needle exchange in New York.
In this segment, we will also play clips from an interview with Kathy for the ACT UP Oral History Project, as well as hearing Hannah’s reflections. And we will hear a tribute from Alexis Danzig, a former ACT UP colleague of Kathy.
About Out-FM
Out-FM is a weekly progressive, intersectional queer show on listener-sponsored, noncommercial WBAI/Pacifica Radio. It airs at 99.5 FM and wbai.org, generally on Tuesdays from 8-9 PM. Please support us by donating to WBAI. Become a member for $25 or a BAI Buddy (sustainer) for $10/month or more. Go to give2wbai.org or call 212-209-2950 and let the station know you listen to Out-FM by supporting the station with a donation. Be sure and mention our show when you donate. Sign up for Out-FM's Weekly Newsletter with show announcements.
Purge of Palestinian Supporters Continues; & Part 2 of Korea Peace Now Campaigns
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Tune into Out-FM on Tues., February 6, 2023 from 8:00-9:00 pm EST, on 99.5 FM WBAI/NY
or listen live at https://www.wbai.org/
Press Play button to stream, or green download buttons below - to download the program sound file.
NYU Law Student Ryna Workman
Purge of Palestinian Supporters Continues
Workman was the president of the New York University Law School student bar association, in their last year of law school with an offer of employment at a large Chicago law firm when in early October 2023 they sent an internal email to other NYU Law students supporting Palestinian resistance and condemning the Israeli attack on Gaza. In that email they did not refer to the October 7 attack on Israel in which Hamas militants killed 1200+ people living near the Gaza border.
Subsequently, the NYU Law student body voted 700+ to 400+ to remove them from presidency of the student bar association and the Chicago firm publicly rescinded their job offer to Workman. Ryna later reported receiving weeks of racist, transphobic and queerphobic messages. This kind of punishment for outspoken support of Palestinian liberation has become commonplace as the Israeli genocide against Palestinians continues. Workman discusses their personal ordeal as well as the political implications of this particular form of censorship.
Part 2 of Korea Peace Now
On Tuesday's program we'll bring you part two of our interview with Korea Peace Now New York/New Jersey chapter co-chairs Kelly Yumni Choi and Young Sun Han; in the first segment, we discussed the Korea Peace Now campaign for a Congressional resolution calling for a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War as well as the homophobia and transphobia that gay men and trans women face in the South Korean military; in the second segment, Young Sun Han will discuss the challenges of generating support for a comprehensive and lasting peace in Korea from the queer community in Korea as well as queer Korean Americans and we will be talking with both chapter co-chairs Young Sun and Kelly about the geopolitical implications of South Korea's neocolonial status as a satellite state of the American imperium. We will also be discussing the challenges of organizing for peace in a Korean American community dominated by right-wing anti-Communist Christian fundamentalist churches.