"The right-wing descent that took place during this long year was predicted by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, the Stonewall riot veteran and mentor to us both who passed this year. Queer and trans people like Major who were alive during the 1980s remember the early days of the AIDS epidemic and the reign of Reagan as a similarly bleak time, in jarring contrast to the revolutionary 1960s and '70s."
"Major kept pushing during that period, behind the wheel of San Francisco's first needle exchange van, and with a group of trans people dubbed Angels of Care who treated people dying from the virus (at the time, many established doctors and nurses refused). Groups like Angels of Care and the direct action-focused AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) provided where the state and traditional institutions would not."
2025 was marked by a bleak political climate alongside persistent moments of trans joy. Sustained attention to the horror of the moment is necessary to prevent erasure and to develop strategies against escalating right-wing power. Miss Major Griffin-Gracy's warnings and activism tied contemporary struggles to the AIDS-era and Reagan-era hardships. Mutual-aid efforts like San Francisco's needle exchange and Angels of Care filled care gaps when institutions failed, while ACT UP employed direct action. Queer and trans organizing in 2025 targeted battlegrounds including ICE jails, public libraries facing book bans, social media platforms, and contested sites like the Stonewall National Monument.
Read at Truthout
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