Miss Major, 'foundational mother' of transgender movement, Stonewall veteran, dies at 78 [View all]
Source: USA today
Oct. 14, 2025 7:44 p.m. ET
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, an early activist for transgender rights and one of the protesters in the Stonewall Inn riots that sparked the modern movement for LGBTQ+ equality, has died. She was 78.
Miss Major, as she was known professionally, died on Oct. 13 in the comfort of her home in Little Rock, Arkansas, surrounded by loved ones. Her death was announced by House of gg, the nonprofit educational and historical center she founded.
Born in Chicago on Oct. 25, 1946, Miss Major fought for more than 50 years for the rights of trans people, those who are gender nonconforming, and the broader LGBTQ+ community especially for Black trans women, trans women of color and those who have survived incarceration and police brutality.
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Miss Major Griffin-Gracy was at the Stonewall Inn in New York City on the night of June 28,1969, when patrons fought back against a police raid that would trigger the modern gay-rights movement.
Miss Major, known as Mama to many, was assigned male at birth but knew from an early age that her true gender was female, although she didnt always have the words to express it. She wrote about the experience in her 2023 memoir, "Miss Major Speaks: Conversations With a Black Trans Revolutionary," written with Toshio Meronek..............................................
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/10/14/miss-major-transgender-activist-stonewall-death/86570840007/