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Cathy Renna - Celebrating our Trancestors at the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor
9 Plays12 days ago
Cathy Renna talks about the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at the Stonewall Inn and the seven trans and nonbinary ancestors who were honored at the 2025 ceremony.
This year’s honorees are: Alan Hart, Chilli Pepper, Jiggly Caliente, Lady Chablis, Lynn Conway, Ruddys Martinez, and Sam Nordquist.
Transcript
Introduction to Kathy Renna and LGBTQ Task Force
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome back to Trans Heartbeat. I'm Michelle Matlock and I'm honored to be joined today by Cathy Renna, the Communications Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, an organization that has been at the forefront of fighting for LGBTQ rights, visibility and justice for decades.
Induction of Trans Pioneers at Stonewall Inn
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Speaker
This year, the Task Force is marking a powerful and deeply meaningful moment. Seven extraordinary trans pioneers and heroes will be inducted into the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at the historic Stonewall Inn.
00:00:39
Speaker
For those who may not know, the Wall of Honor is part of the Stonewall National Monument, a sacred space that commemorates those who have shaped our movement for equality and liberation.
00:00:52
Speaker
This is about honoring our history and recognizing the fierce leadership of trans people who have paved the way, even as our community faces an ongoing wave of anti- Trans legislation and hostile rhetoric.
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Today, Cathy is here to help us understand the significance of this moment, the work of the National LGBTQ Task Force, and the impact of honoring these seven trans icons.
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This is Trans Heartbeat.
00:01:24
Speaker
Hi, Cathy Welcome to Trans Heartbeat. CATHY: Thank you so much. It's great to be here. Happy to talk about the Wall of Honor with you. MICHELLE: So this year, all seven honorees being inducted into the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at the Stonewall inn are trans pioneers and heroes.
Establishment and Purpose of the Wall of Honor
00:01:43
Speaker
Can you share with us why the Task Force felt it was important to center trans leaders this year, especially given the current wave of anti-trans legislation and public hostility?
00:01:55
Speaker
CATHY: I mean, it it really was... Something that just came to our minds, literally, I was standing in the park across from the Stonewall Inn. It was the day of the protest that we organized when the Trump administration removed T and the Q from the website for the national monument for Stonewall.
00:02:15
Speaker
PROTESTERS: We won't go! Hell no! We won't go! CATHY: And I was standing with Stacey Lentz, who's one of the co-owners of the Stonewall Inn. And we worked very closely. They're so generous about not just having the wall in the space at the bar, but also giving us space to have the event every year and being like just really wonderful partners. And so we looked at each other and I said, you know, this is the year that we add all trancestors and trans pioneers and trans and non-binary individuals to the Wall of Honor. And she just smiled at me. I mean, we were all kind of teared up a bit. We were so moved by a thousand plus people who showed up.
00:02:49
Speaker
in support of the trans community for the protest. So it just, ah that was the moment that it really came to be. And of course, when I brought that back to the organizers and the the folks at the Court, they all immediately agreed.
Educational Impact of the Wall of Honor
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MICHELLE: So for those who may not be familiar, can you help us understand the significance of the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at the historic Stonewall Inn?
00:03:13
Speaker
How did this project come to be and what does it mean to have these names preserved in such an iconic location? CATHY: So in 2019, the National LGBTQ Task Force and the International Imperial Court Council , partnered to add 50 names in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising to this wall, which is actually in the back of the Stonewall Inn and is there for everyone to see. I always joke that you you can't check your coat not see the Wall of Honor - because it's that's where it is. And so the the idea was to really create a monument to those who we have lost.
00:03:48
Speaker
and posthumously celebrate trailblazers, pioneers, heroes that have contributed to the progress of the queer rights movement throughout their lives. And so it's a really diverse set of people across all kinds of parts of art, activism, culture, politics, and more.
00:04:03
Speaker
And so every year, it's really honestly probably one of my favorite, if not my favorite thing to do - Pride Month is we have an event that's open to the public and we add names to the wall every year. And we recognize these folks. I mean, it's always been really important, but I think especially now as we we see attempts to erase our history, attack our community, and really create what is essentially an increasingly hostile environment for queer people in this country, it's more important than ever to really honor those that have come before us. We stand on their shoulders.
00:04:35
Speaker
and also educate people. Honestly, one of my favorite things to do is to just sit you know on one of the benches that's sort of in the back of the bar by the wall. And I see people come in and they look up at the wall and theo they may know a name or two. They may know a Harvey Milk. They may know a Matthew Shepard, right?
00:04:51
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But they may not know other people. They may not
Stories of 2023 Honorees
00:04:53
Speaker
know who Urvashi Vaid is. And so they get on their phones and they start Googling. To me, that's the purpose of the wall, whether it's complete strangers that come and visit the bar. And of course, people come from all over the world to visit the Stonewall Inn or whether I'm taking like ah a bunch of school students through to tour, which I do on a pretty frequent basis, as do the staff at the bar.
00:05:13
Speaker
It's a moment to say, hey, look at these names, take a picture of this wall. And when you get home, you know, Google a half a dozen of them because you may not know who some of these folks are. Yes, that is amazing.
00:05:25
Speaker
And in that vein, that leads us right it's right into the next question, which is who are the seven honorees? for So this year, as as you said, you know, we chose all trans folks.
00:05:37
Speaker
And you can find like a whole lot more detailed biographical information on the task force website. But this year we are adding Ruddys Martinez, who was a matriarch of Puerto Rico's ah queer community community.
00:05:49
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a pioneering drag artist, activist, trans woman. It's very exciting. A whole bunch of folks are from the foundation that was founded in her name are coming from Puerto Rico to honor her.
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mean, at the event, we usually have someone introduce each individual, someone who is connected to them in some way. So we're always just really honored to have family and chosen family and ah fellow activists come.
00:06:11
Speaker
We're also adding Chilli Pepper, who is super well-known in Chicago, was, you know, one of the first trans women to go on shows like Phil Donneau's show, Oprah Winfrey's show, to really debunk stereotypes about trans and queer people. OPRAH WINFREY: Do you take shots or hormones or pills or something to get legs like that, Chilli? CHILLI PEPPER: No, my mother gave me this.
00:06:31
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I'm very happy the way I am, and if somebody doesn't like me the way I am, If I go and have an operation, they're not gonna like me anyways, correct? CATHY: And she was ah very, very active in advocating for awareness around HIV AIDS.
00:06:43
Speaker
We're adding Lynn Conway. This one's kind of personal. I knew Lynn. Lynn's basically the reason we have cell phones. She was an electrical engineer, computer scientist, and also a trans activist. So she kind of combined her scientific genius and working for equality together. And she you know she faced discrimination as a trans woman.
00:07:02
Speaker
working at IBM and working in you know the field of STEM. But she created a method for microchip design that essentially, again, was a gateway to to being able to create the smartphones that we all have today, so for better or worse. um ah And she was she was really a lovely woman. Her husband, who she's from, ah lived in Michigan, taught at the University of Michigan.
00:07:23
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Um Her husband and I spoke when we were going to add her and Charles is a wonderful person. They were devoted so devoted to each other. They were married for over 40 years and he teared up. He started to cry and he said she would have been so thrilled to be recognized this way. She just passed away last year. it was a recent recent loss, but a very significant contributor to the movement and frankly, to our culture.
00:07:49
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One of the names that we're adding, which is one that a lot of people are not going to know, is Alan L. Hart. One of the very first people to receive gender-affirming surgery, trans man, lived as a man.
00:07:59
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PRESENTER 1: Alan born in 1890. This is the first documented gender-affirming surgery in the U.S. He convinced them to perform a hysterectomy. CATHY: Alan was at a physician, attended medical school in the middle of the typhoid epidemic. This is in the early 1900s.
00:08:15
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So result it was a a long time ago, really a true pioneer. And he contributed a tremendous amount to tuberculosis research, which was scourge at the time. We did not have the vaccines and the antibiotics we have today.
00:08:28
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And then the other additions are Jiggly Caliente, who was known as Jiggly Caliente. Her name was actually Bianca Castro- Arabejo. She was a Filipino-American drag queen, trans woman.
00:08:39
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She also passed away very recently, was very well known, was a real, like a fan favorite on RuPaul's Drag Race. Was also in the RuPaul's All Stars, the sixth season. RUPAUL: Jiggy, are you up for extending your winning streak?
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JIGGLY: Of course. Bye, girl. PRESENTER 2: There's no way to describe her. There's no way to put her in a little box. And she was just out there.
00:09:08
Speaker
didn't score performances, she fed souls. CATHY: We have the Lady Chablis, who folks probably best know from The Garden of Good and Evil, or Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil, both the book and then the film where she played herself. PRESENTER 3: Lady Chablis is a muther-- [sound drops out] ICON.
00:09:27
Speaker
CATHY: I met her years and years ago, like in the 90s when I was working at GLAAD and she came to the GLAAD Awards in Washington, D.C. and everything she was on the page and on the screen, she was in person. She was an absolute, just ah a real, just an iconic person, ah phenomenal voice for Black trans women in entertainment and media. She just had a tremendous amount of charisma and was just one of these like, you know, larger than life folks.
00:09:52
Speaker
And also, you know, another super powerful story, ah Sam Nordquist, who, you know, folks may have seen coverage. He was a young Black trans man. He died just this year in February. He was murdered.
00:10:07
Speaker
It was a horrible hate crime. And, you know, one of the things that we talk about a lot is the lack of attention that hate crimes against trans people, particularly trans people of color, ah which it really is an epidemic of violence, particularly Black and brown trans women.
00:10:24
Speaker
So, you know, Sam's, Sam's murder really woke people up, happened in upstate New York, but became a national story and We're just very moved and and honored that Sam's mom and siblings and some some of his nibblings as well will be coming to New York for the ceremony. I spoke, I've spoken with his mom several times now and Linda is, she's just really, really moved that we're recognizing him in this way. And so, you know, we we we always strive to have a diverse group of individuals, to of names to add. And, you know, as a young person who was a victim of a hate crime,
00:11:00
Speaker
I think it's really important to amplify those
Advocacy and Empowerment by the Task Force
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Speaker
stories. And so those are the seven individuals that we're adding this year. MICHELLE: Oh goodness. That is so incredible. i wish that I could be at this event. I think you told me it's going to be live streamed. Is that correct? CATHY: It will be live streamed.
00:11:16
Speaker
We can get accessible to everyone on our Task Force Facebook, and then it'll be, you know, it'll live forever on our social media. MICHELLE: Oh, that's fantastic. I'm so excited about that.
00:11:28
Speaker
So the final question is, the National LGBTQ Task Force is known for its wide reaching advocacy work. Beyond this powerful ceremony at the Stonewall Inn, what are other initiatives is the Task Force currently leading to protect and empower trans and non-binary communities, especially in this challenging climate?
00:11:51
Speaker
CATHY: We're a 52-year-old queer advocacy organization, really a legacy organization. And you know we do work at both the federal level and at the state level. So the you know the challenge right now is it's, well, the challenge is at the federal level, right? I mean, it's both, but you know i mean what we're dealing with here in Washington in terms of the new administration is just you know our policy folks, our our president, Kierra Johnson, we are battling these things every single day here in the nation's capital. And one of the things that I think is is really important that the Task Force has been doing is political education, because the goal of this administration has been,
00:12:29
Speaker
and will be for the foreseeable future to really create chaos in our lives. and And I think, especially at the very beginning of the year when they started putting out executive order after executive order, particularly attacking trans and non-binary folks, particularly youth, but now we're seeing adults as well.
00:12:45
Speaker
mean, every piece of legislation that they're putting out there, every executive order is targeting our community. And the the most important thing that we can do is work with folks in our community to empower them to do what they can to A, keep themselves safe,
00:12:58
Speaker
but also to keep themselves informed and and active. Because the fact is our community has been through incredibly difficult times before. You know, we came together and supported each other during the AIDS epidemic.
00:13:11
Speaker
We support each other through the fight for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, for marriage equality, for employment, non-discrimination, and and as we continue to fight for the passage of the Equality Act. So, you know what I think is most important is that we're centering the parts of our community who are most under attack, in this case, young people, trans people, non-binary people, people of color, and do the advocacy that we're able to do on Capitol Hill and also in our field and other advocacy staff departments doing work on the ground. So for example, we have an office in Miami. We do a tremendous amount of work in the in in Florida. It's one of our priority states.
00:13:50
Speaker
And it can be anything from working with local organizations to help them be better advocates and help them do work within their communities, to going up to the Capitol in Tallahassee and lobbying with folks, to getting out in the streets with folks, to working on on local school board elections. Because for us, the engagement and the political work happens at every single level.
00:14:11
Speaker
And so for us,
Creating Change Conference and Activism Training
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Speaker
it's it's really important to make sure that we are doing everything we can to train and engage folks. And, you know, you're at the Creating Change Conference. So, you know, the Creating Change Conference, which happens every year, it will be in Washington, D.C. in January 2026. We do it in a different city every year. We are going to bring thousands of queer activists to Washington to train, to network, to talk about what's going on in the movement um and to then take all of that home and be able to do that that work and pay it forward and do it where they live.
00:14:42
Speaker
MICHELLE: Incredible, incredible. Cathy, thank you so much for speaking with us today. And thank you for all that you're doing for our community. And I can't wait to go to the next Creating Change and to follow all the events that the Task Force is doing. It's just it's just wonderful.
00:14:59
Speaker
So I appreciate you. CATHY: Well, we we appreciate you and we appreciate this. And again, the opportunity to ah amplify these stories and and really lift up the folks, you know, some known, some not as well known that, you know, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be doing what we do.
00:15:14
Speaker
And then we're going to pay forward for the next generation. So that's ah a call, a calling, I should say, that Task Force has always had. So i'm I'm really thrilled to be able to talk to you about it. MICHELLE: Beautiful.
00:15:26
Speaker
Thank you.
Honoring Trans Pioneers and Support for Task Force's Work
00:15:27
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CATHY: Thank you.
00:15:30
Speaker
Cathy, thank you so much for sharing your insights and your passion with us today. Honoring the seven trans pioneers at the Stonewall Inn is such a powerful reminder that our stories, our history are worth celebrating, protecting and passing down.
00:15:47
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At a time when trans and non-binary people are facing relentless attacks, it is even more crucial to lift up the names and legacies of those who have led the way.
00:15:58
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Because when we honor our pioneers, we remind ourselves of our own strength, courage, and resilience. To our viewers, I hope this conversation has inspired you to learn more about the work of the National LGBTQ Task Force, to support trans and non-binary communities, and to take action wherever you are.
00:16:22
Speaker
Remember, our history is powerful and our future is even more so. Thank you for joining us on Trans Heartbeat. I'm Michelle Matlock. Until next time, take care and keep shining your light.