What Trans Elder Miss Major Griffin-Gracy Wants You to Know
At 80, the celebrated elder looks back on how much the trans experience has changed over the years.
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is a singular force in our community.
A veteran of the Stonewall uprising, Miss Major s dedicated the past 50 years towards working and advocating for incarcerated trans folks, particularly trans women of color who, like Miss Major was, are often housed in men s prisons. She s worked for multiple HIV/AIDS organizations, lead support groups around the U.S., and was the first executive director of the Transgender Gender-Variant and Intersex Justice Project, a role she held until she retired in 2015.
Virgil s Sea Room closes permanently while next door El Rio reopens hoodline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hoodline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
California Medical Facility, or CMF, is touted as the flagship medical institution of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or CDCR, but some with inside knowledge of its alleged treatment of incarcerated patients call that reputation into question.
According to multiple sources, including those incarcerated at the facility and lawyers representing them, the building lacks any heating or air conditioning and has poor ventilation despite being a medical facility that warehouses vulnerable people. During the 2020 fire season, the windows that were broken or unable to shut allowed smoke to flood the building.
Last year’s Vacaville fire came within miles of the facility, but despite initially being included in the fire department’s evacuation zone map, corrections officials deemed evacuation unnecessary for the prison and its neighboring facility, California State Prison Solano, according to a KQED article and multiple other news reports. When pressed by repo
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy in MAJOR!, the 2015 documentary about her life. (Floating Ophelia Productions)
Trans icon and veteran of the Stonewall riots Miss Major Griffin-Gracy recently welcomed a new baby into her family with partner Beck.
Miss Major, who is 80 and has been a trans activist for more than five decades, said she and Beck “are just beaming over this little guy”.
She announced the birth of Asiah Wittenstein Major, who was born on 9 January, with an Instagram post.
“We had a baby! Asiah Wittenstein Major was born on sat, 1/9/21 (rhymes with messiah),” Miss Major wrote. “A 9lb 8oz 21 inches juicy happy baby.