Cecilia Gentili: Two men charged after death of actress and transgender activist

Two men have been charged in connection to the death of actress and prominent transgender activist Cecilia Gentili who died from an overdose at her home in New York City in February of this year. NBC New York reported that “During an arraignment at federal court in Brooklyn 44-year old MIchael Kuilan and 52-year-old Antonio Venti were accused of supplying the heroin laced with fentanyl that killed Cecilia Genitil in Feb. 6. Investigators said cellphone data and text messages show Gentili brought the drugs the night before she died from Venti- who originally got them from Kuilan.”

After her death, St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City held a funeral for Cecilia Gentili where more than 1000 people gathered to pay their respects to the renowned transgender activist. According to reports the pastor at the church did not know that they only knew that they were hosting a service for a Catholic and didn’t know Cecilia was transgender. 

The New York Times reported that “Catholic liberals, including some parishioners at St Patrick’s, said that regardless of how some mourners behaved, the church had done a good thing by hosting the funeral of a transgender person. But the response from conservatives was fiery. CatholicVote, a conservative group, called the funeral “unbelievable and sick” and said it was a “mockery of the Christian faith.”

On the 6th February 2024, Cecilia Gentili’s death was announced on her Instagram page, which has over 20K followers. The statement read that “Our beloved Cecilia Gentili passed away this morning to continue watching over us in spirit.

“Please be gentle with each other and love one another with ferocity.

“We will be sharing more updates about services and what is to come in the following days.

“At this time, we’re asking for privacy, time and space to grieve.”

Cecilia Gentili was best known for her role as Ms Orlando in the drama series, Pose, which was set in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Pose is described by Imdb as a “story of ball culture and the gay and trans community, the raging Aids crisis and capitalism.” Cecilia, who was born in Argentina, decided to move to the States in order to live a safer life as an openly transgender woman.