National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: Trans Activist Miss Major Talks About Why It’s Still Important To Protect Yourself
In 1999 the first National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) was observed to bring awareness to how HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects the Black community. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2019, there were 34,800 new HIV infections, and 14,300 (40%) were among Black people.
Black women account for the highest rates among all other ethnicities, while Black transgender women account for 62% of HIV infections among other transgender women in seven major U.S. cities living with the virus.
Sometimes those numbers can sound impersonal, but that isn’t the case for Miss Major, who for more than half a century has worked for the transgender, non-conforming community. Miss Major has seen it all and been through even more. The transgender activist and former sex worker lived through the infamous Stonewall Riots in 1969, spent time in prison, and a stint in Bellevue Hospital and has lived through the HIV crisis. Miss Major says that Bellevue Hospital was a place where trans women were sent as they were labeled as “You’re ‘crazy.”
Considered a living legend in the trans/queer community, Miss Major is now the author of a new book,“Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary.” She sat down with BET.com to talk about how Black trans women can protect themselves on all levels, and why visibility in the trans community hasn’t pushed the needle when it comes to keeping trans women safe.
BET.com: If we use the Stonewall Riots of June 1969 as a marker for the most infamous uprising within the LGBTQIA+ community, would you say that a lot has changed since then?
Miss Major: No, because they're still killing Black folks, and on top of that, they're killing us [trans people]. You know, every girl [trans woman] that dates a boy has that fear that she's going to date a guy, he's going to turn on her, and she's going to die. We fear meeting someone and having them end our lives because we don't fit into their idea of beauty.
BET.com: What kind of support does the LGBTQIA+ community provide to trans people? According to your book, there seems to have been a rub from when the movement for equality started. Has that changed?
Miss Major: I want to say it's disappeared, but it is still there. It hurts because it couldn't have included everybody, but the so-called gays took it and ran south and left me and all the girls behind [trans women]. They didn't understand what we went through then and shut us out. There's no place we fit in as a group, and we started this whole thing.
BET.com: When you say "started this whole thing going," are you talking about the movement for equality?
Miss Major: We sat down and decided that we weren't going to take it anymore and wanted to change it. And, we did that day.
BET.com: Are you talking about Stonewall? Are you saying that the trans community-led that movement?
Miss Major: We were that movement.
BET.com: How does someone surpass all the outside voices and societal expectations? How do you find your own peace in that?
Miss Major: You have to sit down and work out what you stand for and then stick to your guns. Don't give up the fight. It's hard because there isn't anybody there with you. You have no choice but to do this your way. You go out and face the world and suffer every now and then. It's a constant battle between what you are told to be and being human.
BET.com: Your books connects how oppression can cause trans people to adopt the ways of their oppressors. How do you stay safe and avoid taking on all the outside negativity? How do you keep that away and understand that you are perfect just the way you are?
Miss Major: Safety is different for everyone. My safety is my lover and 2-year-old son. I get my [relief] from the BS in the world when I return to my apartment to be with them. The view of everyone else doesn’t matter to me. I was perfect then, and I am perfect now.
BET.com: Do you think the visibility of individuals like Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Laverne Cox, and others is helping to change things?
Miss Major: I hate to categorize, but it's really not moving it but an inch or so. You can't get to someone like Laverne Cox. But some girl walking down the street, you can beat her up.
We have Transgender Day of Visibility, but we're not the ones that need to be visible. I am visible! It's these [men] who are running around screwing us and won't admit to liking transgender women that need to be visible.
BET.com: You've been through the height of the HIV and AIDS crisis when so many were dying, and you mention how your "gurls," (trans women) were caregivers because so many people were afraid of the virus. Where are we now? Where is the fight at this point?
Miss Major: You have to fight it on different fronts; you know you have to pick a particular thing and focus your fight there while someone else is taking on another part of the fight. However, you're always in a state of trying to do what's right.
BET.com: Are there organizations that we should align with?
Miss Major: It's hard to say because they say one thing and do another. A trans girl can walk into one of those places that are supposed to help them, and they won't even interview them.
They will have them sit there all day. That's why I tell the girls to always be ready to fight. Like right now, they're coming after the children they believe are misrepresenting themselves, and as soon as they get that done, the next thing is to come for me. But they're going to get a surprise. I am not going down without a fight.
Editor’s notes: This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
