Miss Major Griffin-Gracy: Was At The Forefront of Trans Liberation Since Before Stonewall (1946-2025)
LGBTQ&A
Jeffrey Masters
4.7 • 703 Ratings
🗓️ 14 October 2025
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The legendary transgender elder and activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy died yesterday. She was 78. A veteran of the Stonewall uprising, Miss Major dedicated her life to the transgender movement. She worked for multiple HIV/AIDS organizations and spent a decade at the Transgender, Gender-Variant, and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), which works with and advocates for trans people of color inside of prisons, jails, and detention centers in California. [This was originally recorded in February 2021.]
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Miss Major Griffin Gracie, who was arguably the most famous and celebrated trans elder in the community, |
| 0:10.0 | died yesterday at the age of 78. |
| 0:14.0 | Her life really spanned the entirety of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, and her activism was reflective of that, much of which was spent in support of incarcerated trans people. |
| 0:26.6 | She worked for a decade with TGIJP, that's the transgender gender variant and intersex justice project, and she later served as that organization's first executive director, a position |
| 0:39.3 | she held until she retired in 2015. |
| 0:43.4 | Now Miss Major's name is often grouped in with those of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. |
| 0:49.0 | They're considered icons today, but while they were alive, the truth is that Marcia and Sylvia were not so well-loved |
| 0:57.0 | or universally celebrated. |
| 0:59.0 | They became icons only after their deaths, and so I do think it's noteworthy that Miss Major |
| 1:05.0 | reached that icon status while she was still alive. |
| 1:09.0 | She was given her flowers and was very much aware of what she meant to the community, particularly |
| 1:14.5 | to other black trans women. |
| 1:17.9 | This interview was recorded in 2021. |
| 1:20.4 | It's just a small snapshot of her life, but I think it's a really fascinating look at her |
| 1:24.7 | work and activism, as well as what it looked like to be trans in New York |
| 1:29.0 | City in the mid-1960s. So without further ado, I'm Jeffrey Masters, and today on LGBTQ&A, |
| 1:38.9 | we are remembering the late, great, Miss Major Griffin Gracie. |
| 1:58.0 | Music the late, great, Miss Major Griffin Gracie. Now, I want to go back to your early years for a moment. Growing up, you didn't have words like transgender. That wasn't anything in the public |
| 2:02.6 | consciousness in any mainstream way. So early on, when it came to your femininity, how are you thinking |
| 2:08.7 | about it? How are you interpreting those feelings? You know, at the time, we weren't sure what we |
| 2:15.2 | were. I did feel odd with my body, and dresses did feel comfortable. |
| 2:22.1 | That's what it was. |
... |
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