FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 8, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Transgender activist honored with Elmhurst street co-naming
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A towering fi gure in the trans immigrant
community in Queens was memorialized
with a street co-naming in Elmhurst
Monday evening.
Jackson Heights resident Lorena Borjas,
one of the earliest victims of the coronavirus
pandemic, was honored on the oneyear
anniversary of her death at age 59, with
a music-fi lled vigil that took place on the
Manuel De Dios Unanue Triangle along the
Elmhurst and Jackson Heights border.
“Today we celebrated and memorialized
Lorena Borjas in the very neighborhood
she worked tirelessly to uplift and
support so many,” Councilman Francisco
Moya said. “When we walk by this neighborhood,
cross this street or pass by this
triangle, Lorena Borjas will serve as a
reminder of what it means to treat people
with respect and dignity, no matter who
they are, where they come from, what
they do and who they love. Her leadership
and activism for the trans immigrant
community will have an impact for generations
to come.”
Borjas emigrated from Mexico in 1981
and dedicated most of her life to protecting
transgender women, survivors of traffi
cking and those dealing with hate violence.
In 1994, Borjas started a mission
that protected undocumented sex workers
living with HIV/ADS. At the beginning
of her activism, she shared her apartment
with up to 20 transgender women
without families who fl ed from their
home countries because they were being
persecuted for expressing their identity
and for being themselves.
Borjas was convicted of several charges
connected with prostitution, which were
eventually vacated in Queens Criminal
Court. Her record was expunged when
Councilman Francisco Moya honors transgender and immigrant rights activist Lorena Borjas on the one-year anniversary of her passing.
Governor Andrew Cuomo pardoned her
in 2017. She became a U.S. citizen in 2019.
Baxter Avenue on 83rd Street is now conamed
Lorena Borjas Way near the former
parking lot along Roosevelt Avenue
that was transformed into a public square
and later named for Manuel De Dios
Unanue, a Cuban-born journalist who
was assassinated in 1992 for his vehement
and relentless crusade against the
Colombian drug cartels that controlled
the streets in the very same neighborhoods
that became the so-called epicenter
of the epicenter as the COVID-19 pandemic
swept into Queens last spring.
“Lorena Borjas was a trans mother
to many of us and a champion in our
community,” Make the Road New York
TGNCIQ Justice Lead Organizer Mateo
Guerrero said. “Our communities have
continued and will continue to honor
her fi ght and her teachings by ensuring
that her name is displayed on Roosevelt
Avenue, in the streets where Lorena spent
Courtesy of Moya’s offi ce
most of her time doing outreach, connecting
community members to resources,
and holding events to foster the unity
and leadership of the transgender, queer
and immigrant community in Jackson
Heights. Lorena’s tireless fi ght will forever
be remembered as we continue to
fi ght for the protection and liberation of
the TGNCIQ+ community. We thank
Council member Moya for bringing forward
this community proposal and making
it a reality.”
Two fi refi ghters injured in Springfi eld Gardens inferno
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Firefi ghters in Queens battle a four-alarm fi re that burned through a row of stores in Springfi eld Gardens on April 2, 2021.
BY LLOYD MITCHELL
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
A pair of New York’s Bravest
suff ered serious injuries when
they were caught in a structural
collapse while fi ghting
a four-alarm inferno inside
a row of Springfi eld Gardens
businesses Saturday morning,
April 3.
Fire Department sources
said the massive blaze broke
out at about 2:20 a.m. inside
111-46 Springfield Blvd.
The flames quickly spread
through three businesses:
Springfield Cutz barber shop,
Beatriz Dominican Hair
Salon and Spring Pharmacy.
Th e two fi refi ghters were
advancing a hose line through
the burning building when
part of a wall collapsed, trapping
them inside. Several other
fi refi ghters narrowly escaped
injury amid the fast-moving
fi re. Units from Rescue 4, Engine
Company 275 and Ladder
Company 133 quickly dug
through the debris to get to
their injured comrades and
pull them to safety.
EMS units rushed the injured
fi refi ghters to local hospitals,
where they were listed in serious
condition. Th eir injuries,
however, are not life-threatening,
according to the FDNY.
Meanwhile, more than 150
fi refi ghters worked through
the overnight, battling heavy
smoke and fl ames, to bring
the blaze under control. Th ey
fi nally succeeded in doing so
at about 5:27 a.m. Saturday
morning.
Th e cause of the fi re is now
under investigation by FDNY
Marshals.
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