Trans Activist Miss Major Hospitalized After Suffering a Stroke

Love has been pouring out over social media in response to news that Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a Stonewall riots veteran and staple in transgender activism for nearly 50 years, suffered a stroke on Thursday, July 4.

News about the 78-year-old's condition was first shared via House of GG's: Griffin-Gracy Educational Retreat & Historical Center's Facebook account by Sharyn Grayson, the COO and CFO of the Center and a member of the center's Board of Directors.

"From us around Major: Major's in the hospital right now, but getting good care (and she's absolutely STILL FUCKING HERE). She can't get back to calls right now but if you want to send love or a message you can email," Meronek said via Miss Major's Twitter account.

Journalist and friend Toshio Meronek has further confirmed that the best way to support Miss Major's recovery is to email messages of support to missmajorspeaks@gmail.com or donate to her fundraising circle.

Miss Major is one of few Black trans elders still actively organizing for the LGBTQ+ community. She is most noted for surviving the Stonewall Riots after physically clashing with the police and working with San Francisco-based Trans Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) for a decade, becoming executive director before officially retiring in 2015.

In 2017, she moved from her longtime home of San Francisco to Little Rock, AK to open the House of GG, a recreational and retreat center that will prioritize trans and gender nonconforming people of color. Just last week, her team secured a location for the project.

In Out's Pride issue, Miss Major detailed her experiences at the first night of the Stonewall Riots and her hopes moving forward for the trans community. "The future is hopefully a place where my guys, gals, and gender nonconforming people can get a chance to be who they are openly and proudly. Pride is supposed to be about everybody having a sense of self, stability, safety, the ability to grow and love, and a relative amount of security and sanity." Many are wishing the same for her in this time.

You can donate to Griffin-Gracy's care fund here.

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