Activists Work to Finish Film About Transgender Elder Miss Major

[Amelia Pond]

Activists Work to Finish Film About Transgender Elder Miss Major
Jamilah King, September 30 2013, 1:29 PM EST

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy has a story to tell and two San Francisco-based filmmakers are determined to tell it.

A pioneering transgender activist and elder, Miss Major, as she's formally known to circles in the Bay Area and across the country, participated in the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969 and now works as the Executive Director of the Transgender GenderVariant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP). She's formerly incarcerated, a former sex worker, and an icon in the world of Bay Area queer politics.

Annalise Ophelian and StormMiguel Florez have been working on a documentary about Miss Major's life since last February...

[Amelia Pond]

'MAJOR!' Filmmakers Annalise Ophelian And StormMiguel Florez Discuss Transgender Documentary
James Nichols, 10/02/2013 9:43 am EDT

"MAJOR!" is a film documenting the life and legacy of transgender elder and pioneering activist Miss Major, a prominent and enduring figure within the LGBT movement since the 1960s.

Present the night of the Stonewall Rebellion, Miss Major is described by filmmakers Annalise Ophelian and StormMiguel Florez as "a formerly incarcerated person, a former sex worker, an elder, a community leader, and an internationally-recognized human rights activist... Miss Major has rallied in front of government officials and spoken around the world, but her most enduring legacy has been uniquely personal. She's been the emergency phone call, the helping hand, and the surrogate mother to an entire community of transgender women whom she's supported, mentored, and helped mold into the next generation of community leaders."

The Huffington Post caught up with Ophelian and Florez last week in an effort to better understand Miss Major's role within LGBT and queer history, her work today as a transgender elder and activist, and the legacy she continues to embody through her work with transgender women of color, particularly those who experience disproportionate levels of incarceration and the violence of the prison-industrial complex.