Trans activist and Stonewall veteran Miss Major Griffin-Gracy dies aged 78
"It is with profound sadness that House of gg announces the passing of our beloved leader and revolutionary figure," announced her organisation the House of gg
By Aaron Sugg
Stonewall advocate Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, an activist and defining figure in LGBTQ+ liberation movements, has died aged 78.
Born in 1946, the Black transgender activist was deeply involved in the HIV/AIDS movement, prison justice and trans rights.
Announced last night (13 October) by her organisation, House of gg, an educational centre providing safe, healing spaces for transgender people, especially those of colour in the US recovering from trauma.
“Beloved leader and revolutionary figure in the TLGBQ liberation movement” – House of gg on the death of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
The announcement, made on the organisation’s Facebook page, read: “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.”
On her death, the statement continued: “Miss Major, 78, passed away on 13 October 2025, in the comfort of her home and surrounded by loved ones in Little Rock, Arkansas.”
In the weeks before her passing, she had been hospitalised for sepsis and a blood clot, then released to receive in-home hospice care.
“Resilience, activism, and dedication to creating safe spaces for Black trans communities” – House of gg on Miss Major’s legacy
It added: “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.”
Throughout her life, Miss Major’s activism has gone from from supporting people affected by HIV/AIDS in the 1980s and launching San Francisco’s first mobile needle exchange, to advocating for prison abolition and trans rights.
She served as executive director of the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project from 2005 and was among those who resisted police violence during the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.
The statement added context: “As director of the TGI Justice Project, she’d return to prisons as a mentor to her ‘gurls’ inside.”
Her organisation, House of gg, was established in 2019 in her hometown, born out of her dream to build a centre that would empower, heal, and be a safe haven for Black trans people.
“It comes down to being ok with who you are underneath” – Miss Major on transgender identity
Speaking to Dazed in 2023, Miss Major said: “Younger girls can spend so much of their time and their paycheques on what they’re going to have done. Baby, I’m here to tell you that we’re never done. You can keep tweaking and nipping and tucking all you want, but it comes down to being ok with who you are underneath.”
She also spoke about her memoir, saying a biography would be published only after her death: “Writing a memoir-type book was never on my radar, people had asked before, but a book felt like it was so final. I’m not done yet! So I thought, if they’re going to write a book about me, they can do it when I’m dead.”
The organisation said: “We will forever honour her memory, her steadfast presence, and her enduring commitment to our collective liberation.”
“She is, and always will be, with us” – House of gg on remembering Miss Major
Miss Major is survived by her longtime partner, Beck Witt, who is transgender; her sons Asaiah, Christopher, and Jonathon; her daughters, including Janetta Johnson, who succeeded her at the Miss Major Alexander L. Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Center; her sisters, Tracie O’Brien and Billie Cooper; and her close friend, Thom Jeffress.
House of gg concluded: “She is, and always will be, with us: Guiding, protecting, and reminding us that she is ‘still fucking here!'”