Family Equality is devastated by the loss of beloved activist and community organizer Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.

Miss Major spent over 50 years advocating tirelessly on behalf of our community, uplifting trans and gender nonconforming individuals, people impacted by HIV/AIDS, and those who have survived incarceration and police brutality. She was the first executive director of the TGI Justice Project, where she worked to end human rights abuses against trans, intersex, and gender-variant people in California prisons, jails, and detention centers. More recently, she founded House of gg — a center that empowers Black trans people and movement leaders in the South. She was deeply committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of Black trans women, often referred to as “Mama” by those she mentored.

“It’s impossible to overstate the impact Miss Major had on the movement for LGBTQ+ rights,” said Family Equality CEO Darra Gordon. “Her life was guided by love, justice, and a fierce sense of purpose. Through her work at House of gg, she built systems of safety and belonging for so many transgender people of color, providing spaces for communities to heal that would not have existed otherwise. We owe a great debt to her resilience and unending devotion to our collective liberation. Today and every day, we commemorate and carry on her legacy.”

Learn more about Miss Major’s life and legacy by visiting houseofgg.org.