Cei Bell, 68, of Philadelphia, longtime transgender advocate and social equality activist, award-winning writer, and artist, died Tuesday, Feb. 12, of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease at her home in West Oak Lane.
Motivated by the harassment she experienced as a child, energized by the community she discovered as a young adult, and sustained by the success she and her fellow trailblazers achieved over the decades, Ms. Bell became a leading voice and inspirational catalyst for social change in Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ community and society at large.
She joined the Gay Activists Alliance when she was 16, volunteered as a marshal for the first Philadelphia Gay Pride March in 1972, and spent the next 52 years working to make life better for everybody. She called herself a transgender/intersex person and said in a 2022 article for billypenn.com: “My early LGBT activism probably saved my life.”
She definitely affected the lives of many around her and went on to cofound Radical Queens, a group that embraced individuality regarding sexuality and claimed “our right to be ourselves both in the straight and in the gay communities.”
She was a member of the Liberty City LGBT+ Democratic Club and active in local political campaigns. She gave informed and impassioned interviews to media outlets and, as an opponent of racism and injustice, pressed law enforcement officials to investigate hate crimes more vigorously.
Longtime friend Sherrie Cohen said Ms. Bell “spoke truth to power and demanded political officials respond to the needs of the trans community, and in specific the Black trans community.”
» READ MORE: Elegy for a holly tree, by Cei Bell
As a writer, Ms. Bell published dozens of opinion articles, stories, and essays in The Inquirer, Daily News, Philadelphia Tribune, and other publications about LGBTQ+ issues, city life, and her own experiences. “Writing has given me joy,” she said in a 2017 story for WHYY. “It gave me an outlet for my emotions. It organized my thoughts and helped me find my way out of a very dark place. Getting published made me feel equal.”
In August 2023, she wrote in The Inquirer about trees near her home in West Oak Lane that, to her dismay, suddenly disappeared. “Shortly after the trees were cut down, I found a dead bird on the pavement,” she said. “It hurts to look at the corner.”
A month later, she published a story in the paper about the ever-changing nature of Rittenhouse Square. “I sincerely hope that the square keeps part of the identity I saw growing up: a place for people of many backgrounds, including artists, to interact and communicate,” she said. “It’s one of the few places left in Philadelphia where that is still possible. It would be sad to see that possibility lost.“
She interviewed artist Glenn Ligon and activist Angela Davis, and wrote stories about the 2002 death of transgender entertainer Nizah Morris, the abuse of LGBTQ youth in foster care, and contributed to the 2009 book Smash the Church, Smash the State! The Early Years of Gay Liberation. She was a longtime member of the Pen and Pencil press club and won a 2015 Leeway Transformation Award for literary arts from the Leeway Foundation.
» READ MORE: After artists were kicked out of Rittenhouse Square, I fear for its future, by Cei Bell
As an actor and artist, she performed in theater productions when she was young, painted cityscapes and portraits, and recently earned a merit scholarship to study at the Art Institute of Chicago. “We respected each other,” said longtime friend Tommi Avicolli Mecca. “She accepted me for who I am and was one of the first people I could talk to about being me.”
Born March 13, 1955, in Philadelphia, Ms. Bell grew up in South Philadelphia and West Oak Lane, and left Parkway High School before she graduated to avoid the harassment she said she constantly experienced. She changed her first name to Cei in the 1970s to better reflect her true self, and friends admired her dedication to honesty and authenticity.
She liked to cook, share favorite recipes with friends, wander around art museums, and chat over vodka martini with olives. She volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House Charities and especially liked to share photos of her cat Creamsicle.
She lived in Center City for years and worked a variety of jobs to augment her writing. Friends called her “a major force in our generation” and “a kindhearted, sweet person who was a pleasure to be around.”
Author Chea Villanueva said Ms. Bell was “brave, kind, and soft-spoken.” Writer Barbara Ruth said she was “so giving with her friendship.”
Avicolli Mecca said: “She affected so much change in her lifetime, and she never slowed down.”
Ms. Bell’s writing and artwork are to be archived at the William Way LGBT Community Center. She is survived by a sister and other relatives. A brother died earlier. A celebration of her life is to be held later.
Donations in her name may be made to the Trans, Intersex, Non Binary, and Gender Nonconforming Services program at the Gay and Lesbian AIDS Education Initiative, 118 Fontain St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19122; and the Attic Youth Center, 255 S. 16th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.
