Miss Major is not your token.

June 18, 2020 8:09 AM

Trans elder Miss Major Griffin-Gracy's life and work is celebrated in the 2016 award-winning MAJOR! from Stonewall, to HIV outreach in the 1990s to ongoing support for trans women in prison. The trailer includes this quote from a younger activist on how Miss Major has been genderqueer long before the concept: "Someone will be like 'you're a woman' and she'll be like 'I'm a Wonder Woman. Wonder what kind of woman I am.'" (Film available on demand at Vimeo)

The 2018 TransVisionaries interview in Them magazine shines with Miss Major's sharp humor and love for her people:

Crystal and I met on 34th and 8th Ave getting ready to jump into the same car to turn a trick. He made a really sarcastic comment saying, “Well, I want the light skinned girl.” I got pissed the f* off and so did she. We walked away and went to eat at Dunkin’ Donuts.

She shares about her experiences at Stonewall in this 2016 interview from studio q and 2015 interview for the Trans Oral History Project.

On the "weirdness" of white, cis gay people honoring her with awards from Them magazine interview:

Yeah, these white, over-privileged, entitled, stick-up-their-ass m*f* who hate us, nudge each other when they see us, talk about us as we walk by no matter what city we live in. It’s not that all of them are bad. There’s about three out of the thousand that have some sense and respect people for who they are... I said in my speech, ‘It took 40 years for me to get up here. You motherfuckers are late.’

Check out the documentary's Self-care soundtrack for revolutionaries by Star Amerasu.

Miss Major's House of GG is another project cultivating a beloved community, an educational center in Arkansas that's part of a growing Southern Trans network for social justice.

posted by spamandkimchi (7 comments total)

p.s. Miss Major suffered from a stroke in 2019 but has been recovering and getting therapy even in pandemic lockdown. In April, she shared this update through the giving circle: "To my trans gurls, and my gender nonconforming family, Now that my health is getting back to where it was before the stroke last summer, I want to know how YOU are doing. Because even if we're not "blood" relatives, I still consider you family."
posted by spamandkimchi at 8:20 AM on June 18, 2020 [3 favorites]

Wow, this looks wonderful and its certainly dusty in here, isn't it.
posted by Fizz at 8:38 AM on June 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

I just found out that you can watch the documentary for free with the code STAYSTRONG2020 courtesy the filmmakers!
posted by spamandkimchi at 8:44 AM on June 18, 2020 [7 favorites]

Miss Major is one of my personal heroes and I'm honored to have been able to work with her and support her work over the years. If you feel so inspired to give back to her after watching Major!, please consider donating to her giving circle.
posted by gingerbeer at 11:34 AM on June 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Or support the organization she helped create and run, TGI Justice Project.
posted by gingerbeer at 11:36 AM on June 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

For those that do watch it (you should), take a moment to reflect on the ways that it's showing you that real actual trans people have experiences different from and more subtle than trans 101 led you to believe.
posted by hoyland at 3:41 PM on June 18, 2020 [10 favorites]

I feel so lucky to have gotten to see this in a theatre and messy cry about it with lots of other trans people.
posted by ITheCosmos at 5:19 PM on June 18, 2020 [2 favorites]