Sophia, we will miss your cry for justice and equality

This blog post was authored by guest writer Juan Carlos Vega, president and founding member—along with Sophia Isabel Marrero Cruz and other wonder women— of the Citizens Alliance Pro LGBTTA Health of Puerto Rico (where ‘A’ stands for Allies). He currently serves as Policy Manager for LGBT HealthLink, a Program of CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers.

Know Your Rights: A Legal Guide for Trans People and Their Advocates. Disponible en español.

Early in 2011, the planning committee of Puerto Rico’s first LGBT Health Summit asked Sophia Isabel Marrero Cruz for a biography so that they can put it up on its website. Using a computer with a broken screen, Sophia wrote the following about herself from her home in Santurce, Puerto Rico:

“Born in June 15, 1970 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, volunteer work started early on, through various civic or religious organizations. Was aware of gender identity at the young age of eight. With three years of college, decided to move to San Francisco, where admissions into college couldn’t be obtained because language was an obstacle to obtain a degree. It was in San Francisco that there was a sudden inkling of a vocation for community outreach and then understood that this was the only way to change people’s attitudes. After working with different community-based organizations in San Francisco, returns to Puerto Rico and starts working on Fundación SIDA in 1995. Through the resources and structure of this community-based organization, is able to form this first support group for transgender people in Puerto Rico. Through perseverance, is able to make the support group into the first and only organization that represents the interests of trans people in Puerto Rico to this day. This organization, Transexuales y Transgéneros en Marcha (TTM), has been able to position itself as a national leader in improving the lives of LGBT people.”

Sophia Isabel Marrero Cruz was a Puerto Rican woman, a community educator and a civil rights advocate in Puerto Rico, the U.S. and Latin America. Just like her modest biography, her modest residence was the base for her hard work, ensuring that the most marginalized people had access to basic resources and a voice in society.

Through Transexuales y Transgéneros en Marcha, Sophia promoted the empowerment and leadership of many trans women in Puerto Rico. Her cry for help was heard outside the island. As part of her work for the 2011 national Trans Day of Remembrance, Sophia called out the lack of investigation from local authorities of crimes against the LGBT communities, particularly the trans communities. She was an active part of the TransLatin@ Coalition and its work with trans immigrants. She provided the White House with strategies for the prevention and control of HIV. She collaborated with different medical facilities in San Juan to establish a hormone protocol for people who are trans. She also contributed to the data collection and writing of the 2013 report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs on “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV-affected hate violence.”

Through the window of her Santurce apartment, she communicated directly with residents and they helped each other. I remember right when I met her, that we went to eat at the Subway near her home, where she ordered a salad with mayo. It was iceberg lettuce. From that day forward, I shared with her the weekly box I bought from the woman-owned business, known as El Departamento de la Comida. In many occasions, we shared soups, rice and many other organic delights that were grown throughout the island, but distributed by their store. Sophia always said that once the T—for people who are trans—was included in society, the LGB communities would benefit as well. She was right. Without a doubt, Sophia was a leader in the process of inclusion of LGBT people in health issues and social justice in Puerto Rico.

I remember when I met Sophia, along with my friend and health educator, Lisette “Darling” Rodríguez, on November 15, 2009, when we conducting a survey on cigarette use in the LGBTT communities in Puerto Rico. Sophia approached our table, congratulated us for our work and expressed that she wanted to talk with us. Sophia smoked cigarettes until the day she passed and recognized its impact on her health.

Her untimely passing reminds you that the fight goes on, that we’re only getting started. No matter the progress, no matter that we can get married or adopt a child. Basic human rights are still being denied at an alarming rate to people who are trans. That’s why it’s important to keep on the fight that Sophia took on.

In 2011, Lambda Legal featured Sophia on the cover of Impacto, the organization’s Spanish-language annual newsletter. In that issue, Lambda Legal Transgender Rights Project National Director Dru Levasseur talked to Sophia about hate crimes in Puerto Rico. The entire conversation in Spanish is available here.

A longer version of this post was originally published in Spanish here.