Layleen Polanco’s death occurred during New York City’s biggest Pride month celebration ever, and against a backdrop of violence and neglect at Rikers Island. Here is how her family, the House of Extravaganza, and activists are mourning and organizing.
. Instead, they want the money that would be used to erect new jails to be put toward social programs that would improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable, explains No New Jails NYC organizers Nadja Guyot and Adelaide Matthew Dicken.
“Ultimately our organizing demand is to free all the people currently incarcerated, and we see moving money to people’s books as a way of helping people survive state violence,” says Guyot. While she attended the large rally that Cruz and AVP organized, Alana was too shocked to speak at it. “I had so many words in my head; so much to say,” she tellsBut she stood and listened to others, frozen. She hadn’t eaten; she couldn’t stop crying. Layleen was one of the first people she met when she moved to New York City from Florida. Layleen introduced her to sushi and showed her how to get estrogen and what surgeons to check out when she began her transition.
Gisele also has acted as a guide to young LGBTQ people as a trans woman and as the mother of the House of Xtravaganza for 18 years. With an estimated 200 members, she struggles to keep track of all her children. The last time she saw Layleen could have been a year ago or more, she says, but she remembers her, in her words, looking angelic.Photo: Courtesy of Alana Ramos Xtravaganza“I didn’t know how bad her situation was,” she says.
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