Lorena Borjas

Early life and education In 1960, Borjas was born in Veracruz, Mexico. When she was seventeen years old, she ran away from home and lived on the streets of Mexico City. She later studied public accounting in Mexico City. with 20 transgender women who worked as sex workers. In 1990, Borjas became a legal permanent resident of the United States. In 2019, Borjas became a U.S. citizen.

Challenges Borjas experienced many challenges in the 1990s. She became addicted to crack cocaine. As a result, she began to engage in riskier sex work. She ultimately found herself in a relationship in which she was a victim of sex trafficking. She was arrested many times during this period, which made her ineligible for green card renewal or naturalization. In the late 1990s, she escaped from the abusive relationship and overcame her drug addiction. She hosted women who had been ostracized from their families in her own apartment until they were able to support themselves. The fund has allowed over 50 people to get out of jail. She became a counselor for the Community Healthcare Network's Transgender Family Program, where she worked to obtain legal aid for victims of human trafficking.

Borjas was not paid for the majority of her activism. She supported herself through a variety of jobs, including counseling sessions, community outreach, occasional talks, and cleaning houses.

Her life project was to create a safe space for TGNCNB (Transgender, Gender non-conforming, and Non-Binary) people in Queens, however, due to her death, she was unable to execute this dream. Liaam Winslet (Executive Director, Colectivo Intercultural Transgrediendo) is helping to bring this dream to reality, known as Casa Trans Lorena Borjas.

Awards and honors Borjas earned honors from former Mayor David Dinkins, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. In 2019, she was declared a New York Woman of Distinction in the State Senate. Following her death, New York City Council member Francisco Moya announced plans to rename a street in his district after her.

In June 2020, Borjas was added among American “pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes” on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument (SNM) in New York City’s Stonewall Inn. The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history.

Legal issues In 1994, Borjas was arrested and found guilty of facilitating a crime in the fourth degree, a charge dating back to her early years in the U.S., when Borjas was, in fact, a victim of trafficking and forced prostitution. Letitia James, Corey Johnson, and Monica Roberts.