Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a pioneering trans activist and Stonewall veteran, has died. She was 7The House of GG, a nonprofit organization founded by Griffin-Gracy as a safe haven for transgender men and women of color living in the South, announced the news on its official Facebook account on Monday.

“It is with profound sadness that House of GG announces the passing of our beloved leader and revolutionary figure in the TLGBQ liberation movement, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy,” the organization wrote in a post, confirming that she passed on Monday. “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.”

Griffin-Gracy was initially hospitalized with sepsis and a blood clot in early September. She was released earlier this month and began receiving in-home hospice care to treat her health issues, according to a then-post from the Griffin-Gracy Educational and Historical Center, an organization the Stonewall veteran launched in 2017, and Them.

‘I’ll be whatever it is when I get there’

Born on Oct. 25, 1946, in Chicago, Griffin-Gracy came out as trans in her early teens. In a 2016 oral history interview with the Outwords Archive, she recounted her adolescent experience and how she was always confident in who she was going to be in her life.

“Growing up as a kid, I was excited about everything because to me tomorrow always brings something new,” she said. “Even as a teenage person, I was never worried about who I was going to be. It’s like I’ll be whatever it is when I get there.”

Griffin-Gracy faced early discrimination, including being expelled from a Minnesota college for wearing women’s clothing, per Them. She built a community in Chicago’s ball scene before moving to New York, where she became a key figure at at Stonewall Inn.

“Stonewall was a great bar, a transgender bar,” Griffin-Gracy told SF Weekly. “You could be someplace and you didn’t have to explain who you were. There were friends there. You were accepted there.”

Griffin-Gracy’s pioneering accomplishments, explained

She also participated in the historic 1969 uprisings, highlighting the erasure of Black trans women from LGBTQ+ history and cementing her place in the queer liberation movement. Griffin-Gracy recounted frequent run-ins with law enforcement, describing how she would get knocked out or injured by police for removing their masks or spitting in their faces, she told SF Weekly.

Griffin-Gracy dedicated decades to advocating for Black trans communities and LGBTQ+ liberation. She organized initiatives, led programs and fought tirelessly to ensure marginalized people had their rights recognized and their voices heard.

Throughout the 1970s, 1980s and beyond, Griffin-Gracy fought for marginalized communities. She joined the San Diego AIDS Foundation as a patient liaison and helped people living with the disease, launched San Francisco’s first mobile needle exchange, and co-founded the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), advocating against prison transphobia and protections for incarcerated trans people, according to Them.

From there, she continued her pioneering work until the final months before her death.

“Miss Major is survived by her longtime partner, Beck Witt; three sons, Asaiah, Christopher and Jonathon; her many daughters including Janetta Johnson — successor of the Miss Major Alexander L. Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Center; her sisters, Tracie O’Brien and Billie Cooper; keeper of spare parts, Thom Jeffress; countless members of community who have been shaped by her mentorship and legacy as a leader; and a whole host of family and friends,” House of GG said in the post.
The post Miss Major Griffin-Gracy Dies: Legendary Trans Activist Was 78 appeared first on Blavity.



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