Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Stonewall Veteran and Legendary Trans Activist, Has Died at 78

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https://www.them.us/story/miss-major-griffin-gracy-obituary-dies-78-stonewall-trans-activist

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Stonewall Veteran and Legendary Trans Activist, Has Died at 78

Miss Major continued fighting for trans rights even after two strokes and other health concerns.

BY QUISPE LÓPEZ, JAMES FACTORA, AND MIKELLE STREET
October 13, 2025

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, an activist and defining figure in LGBTQ+ liberation movements, has died, according to the House of GG Facebook account. Griffin-Gracy was 78.

“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, noting that the activist had passed on October 13. “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 had been admitted to the hospital with a blood clot and a sepsis diagnosis in September. She was released to receive in-home hospice care earlier this month.

Over the span of her life, Griffin-Gracy’s work as an activist ranged from her work on behalf of people suffering with HIV and AIDS in the early 1980s, to launching San Francisco’s first mobile needle exchange, to her championing of the abolitionist movement, often prioritizing trans women. Some of this latter work was done as the executive director of the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project, which she joined in 2005. In 1969, she resisted police violence in the Stonewall Uprisings, largely viewed as the launch of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

“The shame of it was that after it happened, most of the Black girls that had been involved in it, we got whitewashed out of it,” she told SF Weekly in a 2015 interview of that landmark event. “The gay and lesbian community just took it over and acted not only as if we did not exist, but that we weren't even there.”

Griffin-Gracy went on to launch the Griffin-Gracy Educational and Historical Center, known more popularly as the House of GG in 2019. She was still doing her work as recently as August, when she spoke at the Trans Equality Summit in Minneapolis. Griffin-Gracy is survived by her sons Asaiah, Christopher, and Jonathan as well as her partner Beck Witt. She has served as mother and grandmother to generations of trans people, many of whom were featured in the 2015 documentary Major!

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Numerous awards

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MAJOR! - Home
MAJOR! explores the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a formerly incarcerated Black transgender elder and activist who has been fighting …