Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Revolutionary Trans Activist, Dies At 78
Miss Major will be remembered for her commitment to forging a culture of resistance and creating safe spaces for trans communities.
Featured Image: Miss Major lights up Camp Fruit Fly, courtesy of House of gg
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a deeply loved Black transgender woman, fierce activist, and legendary figure in the LGBTQ community, passed away on October 13 in her home in Little Rock, Arkansas, surrounded by loved ones. She was 78.
The news was announced by Miss Major’s organization, Griffin-Gracy Educational Retreat and Historical Center, a.k.a. House of gg, who shared on social media: “Her enduring legacy is a testament to her resilience, activism, and dedication to creating safe spaces for Black trans communities and all trans people–we are eternally grateful for Miss Major’s life, her contributions and how deeply she poured into those she loved.”
Known to many as ‘Mama,’ Miss Major spent a lifetime advocating for the marginalized – especially queer and gender nonconforming people, Black trans women, trans women of color, the incarcerated, and survivors of police brutality. She was Director of the TGI Justice Project, where she was also a mentor. Her hands-on care spanned the coasts— from helping people with HIV/AIDS in New York in the 1980s to leading San Francisco’s first mobile needle exchange and creating a drop-in center for trans sex workers.
Born in Chicago, Miss Major was always a survivor. The former drag performer was knocked unconscious at the 1969 Stonewall riots and suffered abuses in Sing Sing prison, where she initially served time for a sex work-related conviction. But she channeled her challenging experiences into resistance, ultimately becoming a maker of joy and refuge for the mistreated and those pushed to the edges of society. Her legacy to that commitment includes The House of gg, which she founded to create a safe and transformative space to nurture transgender people of color living in the South.
She once told The Guardian that her mother named her Major after a psychic told her to give her child “a name of importance.” The visionary leaves this world having lived up to that and a great deal more.
“We need to celebrate all those who uplifted our community,” Mark Segal, Author and Founding Partner of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, shared with GO in response to the sad news.
“Her smile was breathtaking. It was absolutely infectious,” Danielle Whitehead, House of gg, told GO. “We’ll be leaning into her legacy and doing what she wanted us to do.”
GO joins the great many who mourn the passing of Miss Major, who hold her memory in our hearts with enduring gratitude for the great good she has imparted during her precious and colorful lifetime. May her spirit, which never could be broken, soar.
Photo: Miss Major, courtesy of House of gg
