Human Rights Campaign Mourns, Honors, Remembers Black Trans Icon Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

WASHINGTON—The Human Rights Campaign released the following statement on the death of transgender icon and civil rights advocate Miss Major Griffin-Gracy: 

“All of us at HRC feel a profound sense of loss at the passing of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. “She held many roles throughout her life: prison reform and civil rights activist, HIV outreach and prevention educator, executive director, executive producer. To many, though, she was best known as ‘Mom’ -- as she mentored and looked over so many younger trans women in the community. A pillar in our community, Miss Major's lifetime of challenging work fundamentally changed and improved the lives of so many, especially Black transgender women. From Stonewall to her HIV activism to her support of so many transgender and gender nonconforming folks in the South, her legacy is powerful and lasting. We owe her a debt that can never be repaid.”

Griffin-Gracy served as the first Executive Director for the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), which helps transgender individuals who are disproportionately incarcerated under the prison-industrial complex, until her retirement in 2015. She also founded and led the “House of gg,” a healing space and community center for transgender people, produced the award-winning docu-series “Trans in Trumpland” in 2021, and co-authored her memoir, “Miss Major Speaks,” in 2023.

All of us at the Human Rights Campaign mourn her passing, and extend our deepest love and sympathies to those who survive her, including her partner, Beck Witt Major, and her five children. 

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people, with 3.6 million members and supporters. The HRC Foundation (a 501(c)(3)) works to ensure LGBTQ+ people are safe, seen and supported where it matters most: at school, at work and in every community across the country. From the courtroom to the classroom, from Congress to corporate America, HRC and the HRC Foundation build power through partnerships, storytelling, and action—working to create a future rooted in equity, freedom and belonging for all LGBTQ+ people.

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