One of our most influential and remarkable queer elders — Miss Major Griffin-Gracy — has died at the age of 78.  Her organization Tilfi/House of gg, which provides support and services for trans people in the South, wrote that Miss Major died surrounded by loved ones on October 13, in the comfort of her home in Little Rock, Arkansas, noting: “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.”

Last month, Miss Major had been admitted to the hospital with sepsis and was ultimately sent home to begin hospice care.

She leaves behind a tremendous legacy of courage and spirit and hope and fight, of humor and love and devotion. She is the very best of us.

Miss Major was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, coming out to her parents around the age of 12. This was over seven decades ago, at a time when, she recalled to SF Weekly, Christine Jorgensen was really the only out visible trans woman in the media. “After Christine Jorgensen got her sex change, all of a sudden there was a black market of hormones out there,” she said. On the North Side of Chicago, for example, there was a fortune teller in an amusement park who clandestinely sold oral hormones from behind her crystal ball.

Miss Major forged community wherever she could find it and mostly lived openly, despite the significant limitations of the time. She was kicked out of college in Minnesota for wearing feminine clothing — and then kicked out of school again in Chicago. It was through the Chicago ball scene, which has been around since at least the 1930s, that Miss Major really started to build roots, people who felt like home.

It was during those coming-of-age teenage years when she met her friend and mentor Kitty, who helped her with clothes and makeup — and also helped her embrace being over six-feet-tall. “If it wasn’t for Kitty, I wouldn’t be here,” Miss Major told The Guardian in 2023. “She gave me me. I saw I was beautiful, and there was no turning back.”

Miss Major briefly worked as a receptionist for Mattachine Midwest, an early gay rights organization founded in Chicago in 1965. As a Black, trans sex worker, she suffered relentless police abuse in Chicago as well as after moving to New York. There, she was an instrumental element of the historical moment she is perhaps most associated with: the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall Inn is where Miss Major had found community in New York, telling Mey in a 2015 Autostraddle interview:

“…the thing that’s important is that this was a club the girls went to when we would do prostituting in the street uptown or over in the East Village. It was somewhere where we could sit with friends, talk about what had happened, celebrate the good things, work on the bad shit until we went home. It was the place where girls who did shows would come to after they did their show at some local club, where they would go and sit afterwards and have some peace of mind. To be around like-minded people. You know, people who are from your area, know who you are, share your same thoughts and feelings. A sense of belonging. We had that there.”

Mainstream attempts to portray the Stonewall Riots, including its place in the public imagination, have consistently whitewashed and cis-washed the movement and all of its context, sidelining or altogether erasing the contributions of trans women of color like Miss Major, Marsha P. Johnson, and Sylvia Rivera.

At the time of her Autostraddle Interview, the community was reacting to the 2015 film Stonewall, which was both terrible and historically inaccurate, centering the journey of a white gay man and ultimately flopping at the box office and critically.

“It’s so disappointing. They keep doing this!” Miss Major told Autostraddle in response to these fictionalized accounts of the riots writing out Black people. She also lamented the white statues commemorated as part of the Stonewall Monument, calling on folks to redo them to more accurately reflect the clientele who frequented Stonewall leading up to and during the riots:

Someone should smash those motherfuckers up and turn them into the white dust that they are and put a couple of statues of people of color and at least make one of them an overly obnoxious transgender woman 6’5″, three inch heels, blond/red hair, lashes, beads, feathers and put one of those fine white boys next to her, now that I can handle! [laughter] And let’s have two lesbians at the end with luggage because they’re moving in together! [laughter]

Shortly after this incredible rant in Autostraddle, anonymous activists indeed painted the Stonewall statues brown and gave them wigs, flowers, and bright accessories.

After Stonewall, Miss Major spent time in prison for theft, where she was mentored by the Attica prison rebellion leader Frank “Big Black” Smith, who implored her not to leave anyone behind in her organizing. She was released from prison in 1974, ready to take on the world. A longtime girlfriend gave birth to her son, Christopher, in 1978, and after their breakup, she moved with her son to California, retaining full custody. She also adopted three other sons around his age.

During the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, Miss Major’s Angels of Care organization sent a group of trans girls to care for dying gay men in the San Francisco bay area. “No one wanted to take care of those gay guys when they first got AIDS,” she told SF Weekly. “and a lot of my transgender women stepped up to the plate to do it.” She facilitated a mobile needle exchange and organized against an AIDS non-profit leader who tried to break up her drop-in center fror trans sex workers. In the mid-2000s, she became executive director of the Transgender Variant Intersex justice Project, continuing her advocacy around gender non-conforming people in prison.

She landed in Arkansas a little under a decade ago, falling in love with the area after visiting for a screening of MAJOR!, a documentary about her. That’s where she built tilfi, a save haven for trans people that boasted a guest house, pool, hot tub, 80 palm trees and a merry-go-round. In 2021, Miss Major and her partner, Beck Witt, announced the birth of their first child, Asiah Wittenstein Major. Last year, her book Miss Major Speaks was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award.

It’s only in recent years that the true story of Stonewall and who participated in it has started to become part of the event’s known narrative — but, as of 2025, every reference to trans people has been removed from the National Park Service website about the Stonewall National Monument. After a hopeful chunk of years that saw incremental progress for trans people in the media and politically, we are now governed by an administration amongst a cultural shift that is attempting to erase trans people from public life and history. It’s heartbreaking to consider Miss Major’s death in any context, but this specific one feels especially tragic. It is on us to keep her story and her memory alive — the erasure of trans activists and denial of trans people hasn’t just come from the government, it’s consistently come from within. Gay and lesbian leaders have historically and continue to turning their backs on the trans community when it’s politically convenient, and it has never been more politically convenient than it is right now.

Miss Major built a life around seeing a problem and having the confidence and trust in her community to develop a solution outside of traditional systems of power and capital. When a sex worker friend was murdered and the police did nothing, she and a friend developed a system for the girls to track each other, recording license plates whenever anybody wa picked up. When she saw children who needed homes, she took them in.

“People have to organize and get it together, and we also must vote.” she told the Guardian. “I know the world I would like to live in. It’s in my head, but I try my best to live it now.”

Miss Major’s sanctuary in Arkansas featured a portrait centering her mantra: “I’m still fucking HERE.” She boasted often of outliving her critics and opponents, daring to live a long and beautiful life, surrounded by love and family. “A lot of women treat getting older as if it’s a bad thing. But when younger people call me mother, or grandmother, I feel as though it’s an honor,” she said in Miss Major Speaks. “To them, it’s like, Here’s an older trans woman who survived, and who’s out there raising hell. Elders can teach the younger people to pick up the right. In my mind it’s what they must do. When you are constantly under attack, especially if you’re in this community, you can’t just retire and walk off into the sunset. You’ve got to stay and teach young people to fight.”

“All these people who challenged and fought me – where are they?” she told the Guardian. “They’re gone. I’m here.”

She is no longer here. But we are. What will we do to honor her legacy? We engage meaningfully with all that history, with first-hand accounts, with her book and the memories of people who love her. It’s all right there. Ultimately, perhaps direction is best sought from how she concluded her wishes for community support in that aforementioned Autostraddle interview, with her trademark blend of wit and hope: “I hope a lot of people read this,” she said. “And get their heads out of their ass.”

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

This week’s edition of the Trans News Tracker is the 10th one so far. It’s also the first one where news of resistance efforts made by trans people, queer people, and their allies actually outweighs new efforts being made by the far right, anti-trans Democrats, and other institutions trying to limit our rights and push us out of the public eye entirely. This certainly doesn’t mean we’re winning, but I think it’s important to recognize that resistance is expanding, taking new shapes, and happening in almost every place where trans rights are continually imperiled.

Trump Administration Prders States To Remove All References to ‘Gender Ideology’ From Sex Ed

Although there is a lot of good news here, I do think it’s important to highlight the latest attempt by the Trump administration to erase trans people from public consciousness since we’ll likely see a string of backlash soon from state governments across the country.

Last week, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr., along with the rest of the administration released notices through its Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to 40 states and six U.S. occupied territories “demanding” they remove “remove all references to gender ideology in their federally-funded Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) educational materials within 60 days.” The PREP program was/is a federal initiative aimed at providing evidence-based sexual education programs to young people aged 10-19 in public educational institutions. In a statement following the release of all 46 letters, Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison said, “Accountability is coming. Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or advance dangerous ideological agendas. The Trump Administration will ensure that PREP reflects the intent of Congress, not the priorities of the left.”

To save you from reading through the entirety of these letters, I’ll just tell you here what has been flagged for removal from this program: all definitions of gender identity and gender expressions, references to gender-affirming pronoun usage and guidance on allowing young people to express the pronouns they’d like to use, and any information about gender-affirming care or procedures. In what has become one of the far right’s favorite tactics, they’ve adopted the language/mores of progressive movements by claiming in these letters that these state institutions must cease providing this education as a way to “demonstrate acceptance and respect for all participants, regardless of personal characteristics, including race, cultural background, religion, social class, sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Since the funding for PREP programs helps states educate young people about safe sex and how to protect themselves from youth pregnancy and the transmissions of sexually transmitted infections, any cuts in funding to this program would impact these states’ and territories’ ability to actually provide that education, as well. It’s hard to say right now exactly how many of these places will comply or fight. Aside from this being yet another hostile and violent attempt to push trans people out of public life, this represents a particularly dangerous new development for both young trans and cis people going to school in public institutions. And it serves as a deeply horrifying reminder of how low the far right is willing to go in their crusade to make trans people’s lives unlivable in this nation.

Some Good Trans News For Once

Trans Texans face yet another attempt to ban them from bathrooms. In response to the possible passing of Texas’s Senate Bill 8, a group of trans people and their allies took over both the House State Affairs Committee to testify against the bill and the Texas State Capitol for a bathroom sit-in protest. Since Texas Governor Gregg Abbott vowed to sign the bill if/when it makes it to his desk, the urgency of these actions and plans to continue pushing back against this bill cannot be understated.

Illinois launches LGBTQ+ legal hotline amid Trump-led onslaught. Some great news coming from a Democratic politician, finally. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced last week that the state has launched its own hotline for queer and trans people called IL Pride Connect. According to Pritzker, “IL Pride Connect will inform individuals of their rights and connect them to health and social services support – making us the only state in the nation to provide free legal advice and advocacy tools to protect the LGBTQ community.”

Judge dismisses lawsuit to remove transgender sister from UW sorority. This is one of my favorite news stories this week. In 2023, a lawsuit was filed by members of the University of Wyoming’s Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority against their national organization seeking to remove an already sworn in trans sorority sister. After not one but two court hearings over this issue, U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson finally dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice — meaning it can never be brought to the courts again — stating, “Nothing in the Bylaws or the Standing Rules requires Kappa to narrowly define the words ‘women’ or ‘woman’ to include only those individuals born with a certain set of reproductive organs, particularly when even the dictionary cited by Plaintiffs offers a more expansive definition. Nor has Kappa or the Fraternity Council concealed this definition from its members: in fact, it has published and distributed multiple texts clarifying the issue.” I think it’s cool he basically told the plaintiffs to “eat shit” and get over it.

[Virginia] school board sues Trump administration to defend transgender student policy. I know I’m biased, but can I get a “Hell yeah, teachers!!” in the chat, please???

Trans news from across the pond:

UK’s LGBTQ+ literary prize cancelled after controversy over ‘gender critical’ author John Boyne. Following the inclusion of TERF author and JK Rowling supporter John Boyne’s new novel on the Polari Prize longlist, 10 other longlisted authors pulled their novels from consideration in protest, which forced the Prize to put a pause on its competition for 2025. It’s always amazing to see writers — a group who, financially, has a lot to lose — doing this kind of work in defense of trans people.

Nottingham Against Transphobia hold die-in in city centre. An activist group called Nottingham Against Transphobia held a die-in in the center of Nottingham last week in protest against the  Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) new guidance urging service providers to “ban trans people from all single-sex facilities and services including changing rooms, wards and sporting competitions.” According to reports from the protest, “The demonstration in Nottingham saw dozens of participants carry out a die-in where they lay silently on the ground as the sound of a steady heartbeat played from a loud speaker. One attendee was dressed as the Grim Reaper and wore a mask plastered with the face of prime minister Keir Starmer, standing ominously amongst the participants on the floor.” As the fight for trans rights gets just as dire in England as it is here, we’ll likely see more and more of these actions in the coming months.

International trans news:

Transgender people in Kenya just won a major court victory. Shieys Chepkosgei sued the Kenyan government over her arrest and indictment in 2019 for “impersonation” (despite the fact that she had legal documents matching her gender identity), and the judge not only ordered the government to give her financial restitution but he also ordered Parliament to pass a law protecting trans people’s rights in Kenya: “The judge went a step further, directing the Kenyan government to initiate legislation in Parliament addressing the rights of transgender Kenyans, either with new protections or by amending current legislation on the rights of intersex people currently moving through Parliament.” Judges here and abroad are really putting in the work to protect trans people lately, and it’s incredible to see.

Trans News I Wish I Didn’t Have to Report

Alaska medical board moves to restrict gender-affirming care for minors in the state. Yet another blow to trans youth, but this time in a state where literally less than a million people live. That’s how you know this is simply retaliatory politics masquerading as “care.”

Trump’s widening war on gender-affirming care. Unsurprisingly, the Trump administration is moving to prevent federal workers and their dependents from receiving gender-affirming care, even if the care is available where they live and through their healthcare providers.

University of Michigan ends gender-affirming care for minors, citing federal pressure. Michigan Medicine at the University of Michigan became the newest compiler, kowtowing to the Trump administration’s pressures on institutions that receive federal funding to stop providing gender-affirming care to trans youth. I’ve reported on this several times in this column, and the list grows longer by the week despite the fact that many institutions are pushing back legally.

South Carolina asks Supreme Court to let it enforce trans bathroom ban. I don’t know how we’re not constantly pointing out how obsessed with this shit these people are. All emotional reactions aside, if this does make it to the Supreme Court, we could be looking at the enshrinement of a legal definition of “woman” and “man” in the same way the UK is experiencing that right now. This is something to keep our eyes on for sure.

Last Bits of Trans News

Sam Nicoresti becomes first trans comedian to win best comedy show at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Please join me in congratulating Sam on this huge honor: CONGRATULATIONS, SAM!

Learn why activist Jae Douglas is so dedicated to helping other LGBTQ+ Floridians. This is a truly wonderful profile on a young person doing some of the hardest work in my home state. As someone who has been organizing in South Florida for the last 20 years of my life, I can tell you that what Jae is doing is no small feat. I hope you’ll read it and listen to what Jae has to say.

Charlize Theron’s adopted daughters – Jackson and August – are officially living their best lives. Charlize Theron joins the growing list of celebrities who are loving and supporting the hell out of their trans children in public and in front of all the anti-trans losers. It’s nice to see the list is getting longer, not shorter.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!