Paying Tribute: The Trailblazing Life of Cei Bell

Cei Bell Matters!

We are so sad to tell you the horrible news that Cei Bell passed away in early February, at the age of 68.

Her friends seek contributions to help defray the costs of her cremation and memorial service, costs related to re-homing her beloved cat, and collecting and archiving a lifetime of her artwork and writings, which will be placed in the William Way LGBT Center's archives. Cei lived on her Social Security and died with no will or insurance, and no known next of kin.

A celebrated writer, an artist and a path-breaking activist who gave immensely to the struggle for Black transgender people over a period of over 50 years, Cei was awarded the Leeway Foundation Transformation Award for Literature in 2015. She won a Merit Scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago. She was completing a series of historical family drawings (a memoir in pictures) when she died.

Cei Bell joined the Gay Activist Alliance at age 16, helped organize Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride March (1972), and co-founded Radical Queens (1973), the city’s first group for trans and gender non-conforming people. She was part of the DYKETACTICS! community (1975 -), the city’s first Gay Community Center, Liberty City Democratic Club, and various other LGBTQ organizations. Cei Bell identified as a Black woman who was transgender and intersex.