“Just because there’s this umbrella, LGBT, we’re all grouped together. But guess what? Someone poked a hole in the umbrella and the girls are still getting wet.”
-Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
All month long, in honor of Black History Month, we will be highlighting influential queer and trans black activists—and taking the opportunity to educate ourselves further in the process.
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is an iconic trans activist. For decades, she has worked to prioritize people’s safety as an essential basis for liberation. From her leadership in the Stonewall Riots to challenging the injustices of the prison industrial complex, Miss Major’s activism has always put the immediate needs of incarcerated trans women of color at the forefront. Previously expelled from multiple universities and incarcerated for her gender identity and sex work, Miss Major continues to fight for the rights of trans people to be able to exist and thrive free of violence and persecution.
Based in the Bay area, Miss Major holds the position of Executive Director Emeritus at the Transgender, Gender Variant, Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP). A mentor to many, Miss Major is consistently cited by current trans activists, such as Janet Mock and Laverne Cox, as one of people who has been forefront in laying path for today’s LGBTQ+ activism.
Check out the links below to learn more about Miss Major Griffin-Gracy and her work:
- MAJOR! – The 2015 documentary centered on Miss Major Griffin-Gracy’s life
- People Profile: Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
- 6 Things You Never Knew About Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
- This is What Pride Looks Like: Miss Major and the Violence, Poverty, and Incarceration of Low-Income Transgender Women
- This interview with Miss Major Griffin-Gracy and Annalise Ophelian (director of MAJOR!)
- Trans Oral History Project: Miss Major on Role Models
- The Personal Things (a digital short for Trans Day of Remembrance/Resistance with Miss Major Griffin-Gracy)
- Miss Major: The Bay Area’s Trans Formative Matriarch
- Miss Major’s Monthly Giving Circle GoFundMe Campaign
Taku Recortes 