(November 28, 2025) - Faux Pas /ˌfō ˈpä/ : noun; an embarrassing or tactless act or remark in a social situation.

The Icon, the Activist, the Legend, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy took her final bow on Oct. 13, 2025 after a full and incredible life that impacted generations, history, the Trans community and the world. A Homegoing Service was held in Little Rock, AR on Oct. 25th, a Memorial in NYC at the historic Riverside Church in Manhattan on Nov. 22nd, and she will be memorialized a 3rd time at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco in December. Exceptionally fitting for the transitioning of a Queen.

G.L.I.T.S., Black Trans Liberation Kitchen and a host of family and friends gathered for an incredibly beautiful New York City Memorial Service led by the Icon, Ceyene Doroshow, dressed in a smart and stylish black dress and stilettos. “MAJOR” was spelled out across the alter in red roses, beside beautiful blown-up portraits of Major from magazine shoots and no less than the likes of Angela Davis [via video], Raquel Willis, Tourmaline, Miss June, Miss Billie Cooper and Mariah Moore graced the mic. Doroshow was witty and emotional but filled every word with power and purpose, the same energy Griffin-Gracy would demand of all the people she loved most, not one to mince words or stop fighting for greatness. Doroshow and all the speakers reinforced the concepts that Miss Major lived by: that they mattered, they were powerful and that the fight must live on.

Around an hour and twenty-five minutes into the live-streamed program, the atmosphere shifted. A visibly hurt and frustrated Doroshow announced that despite what she had been told and what she had paid for, she had been informed that they would not be receiving their full time and the program would be cut short. Mariah Moore was the next to speak, and although forced into brevity, started with,

“How cliche, we are here celebrating someone who lived such a full life and we are told that we have limited time.”

As the remainder of speakers and performers were brought to the front, each remarked that they understood that they needed to be quick, but there was so very much that they wished to say. Immediately following the last song you could see folks being directed out. The service was incredibly beautiful and felt complete but the moments lost to the clear anguish of the speakers was heartbreaking. Miss Major was already on to bigger and better but they needed those final moments of community, of togetherness, of fellowship. You had to wonder in a community so often filled with church hurt, abuse, and abandonment- how much it took many of them to even walk through those doors, only to be ushered out prematurely. There were mentions and whispers of disrespect, contentious emails, folks not being allowed in, obvious policing of language and refusals of appropriate restroom access. There is some bitter irony in a Black Trans women living by her own terms, dying after a full and legendary life on her own terms, and then her Memorial Service ending the way it did. New York, the state with arguably the most protection for Trans and Non-Binary people, but institutions still failed to be a safe haven when so many needed one so badly. When you can be an individual who had done all the things that she could do, been the grandest of the grand and still somehow get less than the fanfare and honor that she deserved, it makes you wonder- what will ever be enough?

You could almost see folks quiet contemplation as they considered what would be a greater tribute to Miss Major’s legacy, to maintain poise and honor in that incredibly difficult moment or to burn it all to the ground and get carried out in protest? They somehow without collusion or pre-meditation found a way to do both. As the crowd was released to the repass and folks gathered in front and in the aisles, Qween Jean in all her majesty grabbed the mic and spoke life over the room. She sang an amazing rendition of Amazing Grace as the crowd shifted and mingled. They cut off her mic, but couldn’t silence her voice. Moving closer into the crowd, she raised a fist in power and protest leading all in a call and response.

“When I say Major, you say power!” “MAJOR!” “POWER!” ….over and over again.

Concluding with,

“LET THE PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD KNOW, AS TRANSGENDER PEOPLE, WE WILL NEVER BE SILENCED. WE WILL NEVER BE PUSHED OUT. WE WILL NEVER BE MADE TO FEEL INFERIOR. WE EXIST. GOD BLESS.”

And in a moment that exemplified the very oppression that seeks to belittle and bury the Black and Trans communities, it became the most MAJOR memorial to her greatness that the world had ever seen.

“The service was beautifully arranged, and the chapel was filled with the warmth and pride of our community as we came together to honor a pioneer. My Trans mother, Miss Major’s sister, Ms. Billie Cooper, traveled from the West Coast to be with the tri-state TLGBQ+ community in this moment of remembrance. But the tone shifted when church staff denied us access to the restrooms and abruptly instructed us to end the service almost two hours early. We lost the time we had planned to celebrate Miss Major’s life together, and we were ushered out into the cold, left confused and deeply unsettled by what had taken place.”
- Naiymah Sanchez, Advocate, Activist and 2025 Bernadine Casseus Transgender Laureate

“With so much going on in the world and so much hate directed towards the Trans community. Why do we still give money to institutions that don’t support us? We can’t even mourn in peace without the church telling us we’re undesirable and don’t deserve space to grieve, and we pay them for this disrespect.“
- Victoria Von Blaque, Advocate, Writer and Educator

"I found the modifying "Shutting Down" the Service for Miss. Major was appalling and shocking. Coming from any "Staff or invisible" entity. It sends a horrific message, from a LANDMARK Place / Building of Interfaith, and other services, at RIVERSIDE CHURCH, to allow such a "disrespectful act".... should be addressed. Period. This community, the Human one, deserve better! I was in attendance, representing those affected by the criminal justice system: TGNC folk. As Motha Major energy says: ‘Do the work, let our excellence shine through events at times, and moments of acts, like the one occurred at the Memorial.’”
- Grace Detrevarah, Advocate, Legal services and Senior Health Educator at Osborne

“There is always a better way to handle sacred moments—yet too often, even in our holiest spaces, Trans people are met with disregard instead of dignity.” - Rev Yunus Coldman

Blaque/OUT Magazine reached out to the Riverside Church NYC for comment and at the date of print had received no response.

WATCH THE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/live/XglCx1OEedU