About
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy was a Black transgender activist, mentor, and organizer whose decades of work centered the safety, dignity, and freedom of trans and gender-nonconforming people, especially those affected by incarceration.
Biography
A veteran of the Stonewall era, Miss Major became a central figure in grassroots work for trans communities. During the HIV/AIDS crisis, she cared for people in New York, then supported harm-reduction work and community organizing on the West Coast.
As a leader of the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project, she advocated for transgender and gender-nonconforming people in prisons and detention centers. She later founded House of GG, a Southern-based project focused on Black trans community support and leadership.
Her life was documented in the film MAJOR! and the book Miss Major Speaks, created with Toshio Meronek. Miss Major died in October 2025; her legacy continues through organizations and the people she mentored.
BQW Impact
Miss Major helped create pathways to safety, community care, and political visibility for Black trans people. Her organizing brought lived experience into conversations about prisons, health, and liberation, while her mentorship connected generations of queer and trans advocates.