Charlene Arcila | Philadelphia Women’s History Month All-Star

All-Star #3: Charlene Arcila

Charlene Arcila | Philadelphia Women’s History Month All-Star

All-Star #3: Charlene Arcila

By The Citizen
TODAY'S ALL-STAR FULL 2021 ALL-STAR LIST

03

Charlene Arcila

LGBTQ Activist

Charlene Arcila

LGBTQ Activist

1963-2015

Charlene Arcila came out as a transgender woman as soon as she moved to Philadelphia from Mississippi in 1990.

She worked for the Philadelphia AIDS Consortium for 20 years, during which time she also founded the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference—now the largest conference for transgender and gender-nonconforming people to provide health care and wellness support. It grew every year since its inception with 7,000 people attending in 2017.

Arcila also led the grassroots movement to ban gender markers from SEPTA passses in 2013, arguing them discriminatory against transgender and gender-nonconforming people. She served as treasurer for the William Way LGBT Community Center and as a member of the board of directors for the Mazzoni Center, a health care provider in Philly that serves the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

Arcila passed away six years ago, leaving a prominent and lasting legacy on the trans and queer community of Philadelphia.

EDUCATION

  • Provine High School, 1981


ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  • Founded the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference, now known as the Trans-Wellness conference
  • Led the movement to ban gender markers on SEPTA passes
  • Named a 2014 Trans 100 honoree
  • The Mazzoni Center honors Arcila’s work by giving out the Charlene Arcila Pioneer Award at the Trans-Wellness conference each year.


FINAL WORDS: “The important thing is to feel connected to people or communities beyond yourself. That plays a major role in reducing isolation and helping us get out of our own heads, gives us a framework for coping and provides support when things get tough,” Arcila said of the philosophy that drove her activism.


RELATED READING

From Women's History Month All-Stars
Gloria Casarez Biography
As first director of LGBT affairs in Philadelphia, Gloria Casarez helped institute groundbreaking LGBTQ protections throughout the city.

From Black History Month All-Stars
Caroline LeCount
A teacher in Frankford, LeCount was Philly’s Rosa Parks 100 years before the Montgomery bus boycott, defiantly riding street cars and filing petitions to have a law against black riders repealed.

From Black History Month All-Stars
Crystal Bird Faucet
Fauset was the first African-American woman elected to a state legislature in the country. In that role, she introduced legislation that addressed public health, low-income housing and women’s workplace rights.
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