Charlene Arcila

In 1990, Charlene Arcila moved to Philadelphia from Mississippi and came out as a transgender woman.
She worked for the Philadelphia AIDS Consortium for 20 years and founded the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference (now known as The Philadelphia Trans Wellness conference) in 2000. This is now the largest festival in the world for trans and gender nonconforming people.
In 2007, she filed a complaint with the city of Philadelphia after a public transit employee challenged the gender marker on her SEPTA pass and demanded she pay an additional $2. In 2013, gender stickers were removed from SEPTA TransPasses and TrailPasses.
Charlene Arcila died on April 7th, 2015. She was 52 years old.

Content warning: Outdated and insensitive language, discussion of sex work, drug use and addiction, suicide, childhood sexual abuse, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS.

Richard William Evans

Kenny Greene