Major! Page #7

is going to be hard, you know,

I may know what to do

but maybe I should see

what other people are

doing to help me do this.

There was a group for fathers

who were raising their children.

So I went to go to this group.

Hmm.

Needless to say I did not

only not get in,

but two or three of them

came out t

It's like wait a minute,

so I have tits,

what is your issue?

Christopher was always

really confident, "that's

my daddy" even though

people would see a woman.

I feel like she's like

deeply genderqueer in this way

that someone will be like,

you're a woman,

and she ll be like

I'm a wonder woman,

wonder what kind of woman I am.

She's happy to be with

her full beard and a dress.

She just wants to be herself

and be seen as herself.

Daddy's ju

I mean he runs the house,

he talks a lot.

He rules with his voice

and not with his fist.

I got a lot of love

when I was a kid.

I was definitely the most

loved kid, like ever.

So the last time you were

in a room with your mom

and your dad

at the same time was...

About 23 years ago --

no, too many.

23?

Yeah.

23 years ago. Yeah, a long time.

It s been a while.

Yes.

It was not good.

We were in a diner somewhere

here in New York and I mean

I don't remember much

of the conversation.

At that time I was 12.

I know there were not nice words

happening and I mostly

tuned most of it out.

Most of my troubles

today have absolutely nothing

to do with my father.

So I'm blessed.

I'm here for daddy's

building dedication.

I think it's a huge honor

and it's nice to know

that he's gonna be

immortalized in a building.

It's like, he's a building.

Yeah.

That's my dad.

Yeah.

You know the building

around the corner?

We're gonna sit

at the welcome table,

we're gonna sit

at the welcome table

one of these days

hallelujah

We're gonna sit

at the welcome table

we're gonna sit

at the welcome table

one of these days

We're gonna thank

and honor our elders

We're gonna thank

and honor our elders

we're gonna thank

and honor our elders

one of these days

We at the Miss Major Jay Toole

Building for Social Justice

know exac

Jay is here for people

who have disabilities.

Who have HIV and AIDS.

Jay is her

people living

on the streets

or homeless shelters.

Jay is here for queer people

of color, trans and gender

non-conforming people navigating

the prison industrial complex.

I was homeless, you know,

and I was in my box

and this thought would

go through my mind:

I'm gonna die in a box.

No one's gonna know who I was.

No one's gonna know

I was on this earth.

And then one f***ing queer

put their hand out to me,

and here I am.

Major, we have a f***ing

building named after us.

Isn't that like amazing?

Me and Major talked

in San Francisco a week

and a half ago

and we tried to figure out

how long we've known each other,

and it seems like it's 1964

Wooo!

...that we met.

You know,

we go back a little ways.

I love this building.

Our doors stay open,

we help whoever walks through.

And to be in the same space

with Major.

I love my community.

You saved my life.

Now go out

and save somebody else's.

This is absolutely

a wonderful thing

that this is not a memorial.

I'm actually alive

to pay attention to this

and I just want to say

that I hope each and every one

of you when you leave here

and anyone says 'oh,

I'm here about the GLBT...'

no, no, no motherf***er.

T comes first.

I want you all to know

that I love and care about

all of my Black sisters

out there whether

I know them or not,

whether they know me or not,

I hope they hear about me,

I hope they come here

and get some services

because this is the building

to get the f***ing services at.

I love you Jay for all

the years we've known each other

and this is only the beginning.

You all must continue

fighting for us because

I'm getting tired.

My heels cannot take it.

I'm in flats come

to think about it.

So hang in there.

Thank you so very, very much

from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you

When I first met Major

the kind of work she was

doing was

we were all at that stage

at that point.

And it's kind of there that

I noticed the struggles

that she had, she really,

the prejudice to try to find

work was just, very blatant,

and very obvious.

Major always seemed to

find people who, or actually

these people would find her,

who were kind of struggling

with their own self-identity.

And she always seemed to have

people like that as roommates.

She'd alw

of new folks and she would

teach them, build them up,

show them how to paint,

show them that they really

are valuable, and that

they're more than their past,

and then send them back out

in the world and we'd

see them all over.

Usually in San Diego performing,

you know one minute

they're practically

a street kid,

and then next moment,

after a month or two

with Major's tutelage,

they're now performing

with local drag troupes

and making a living.

Ok, well that was the end of

the second show, but we have,

an encore performance,

a third show.

Please child, we're gonna

close the bar!

Be with you in just a minute,

hope you enjoy the show.

I'm Major

All right girl.

She was elected as the head

of a food delivery program,

for people with AIDS.

They would have a contest

for a spokesperson.

And the people, the guys in

the community elected Major,

but the corporation itself

did not think she was

a fit aesthetic for

the organization, and she rode

in the gay pride parade

that year, and they put her

in the back of the float.

And that was so painful

to see her.

But she sat there on the back

of the float

with this enormous petticoat on.

And her son to the next of her.

Everybody just waved

and waved and waved to her,

you know, that was so empowering

to see, that no matter

what she was faced

with she came out on top.

She had a significant other

for many years, Joe Bob,

in San Diego.

And when he passed, she got

the Veteran's Hospital

to create

which was a big deal

at the time, for like

a Veteran's Hospital

to really recognize that some

of the veterans were dying

of AIDS at the time.

The idea for this garden

originated in March

of this year when we lost one

of our patients,

Joe Bob Michael.

And his friend Major

and I talked about,

it would be nice to have

some kind of living memorial

to remember the patients that

we knew and had loved and lost.

And to me that was like,

oh my god

she's a trans person,

and she's six foot five,

and she's walking in her truth.

How wonderful that is.

And it gave me strength

to wish more for myself.

Major has had three

major loves in her life.

She had Joe Bob back

in San Diego, and she was

his caregiver for many years

before he passed.

Shannon she was with for

I think at

Shannon actually lived

with Major and her parents in

the Menlo Park house while

she was ta

And unfortunately he struggled

with drugs and some other issues

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