The Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success will be hosting a screening of the film “MAJOR!.’ The film screening will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at 101 Carver Hall, with the film being 90 minutes.

“MAJOR!” explores the life of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a black transgender activist who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years.

“Miss Major is a veteran of the Stonewall Rebellion and a survivor of Attica State Prison, a former sex worker, an elder and a community leader and human rights activist,” according to the MAJOR! Website.

Griffin-Gracy, 78 years old, serves as the executive director for the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project. The project aims to assist transgender persons who are disproportionately incarcerated under the prison-industrial complex.

In an interview with Them magazine, Griffin-Gracy talked about how her age has affected her view on activism.

“There’s still the stigma of being a trans person, but the world is changing and we are more prominent than we’ve ever been, in a semi-positive light,” Griffin-Gracy said in the interview. “They’re still killing us, they’re still throwing us underneath the jails, but there are people that are not a part of our community who are bitching about the injustices that they are doing to us. That’s a major step.”

Brad Freihoefer, director of the Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success, spoke about the importance of Iowa State showing the film to students.

“The film does a wonderful job of taking folks through a journey of the work, the campaigns, the history, the community, the brilliance, the joy, the heartbreak, the challenges, and the pain that Miss Major went through,” Freihoefer said.

The Center’s website says all are welcome for the screening, which is free of charge. The screening will include closed captioning.

“Miss Major is an icon, through Stonewall to today and has earned that title in so many ways,” Freihoefer said.

“MAJOR!” has been shown at over sixty film festivals and has received over twenty awards which include:

• Audience Award Best Documentary at Outfest Los Angeles
• Audience Award Best Documentary at Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival
• Audience and Jury Prizes Best Documentary at Wicked Queer Boston LGBT Film Festival
• Audience Award Best Documentary at TransScreen Film Festival
• Public Choice Award for Best Film at Massimadi Afrocaribbean LGBT Film and Arts Festival
• Best Documentary Feature at TRANSlations Transgender Film Festival
• Best Social Impact Film at TransForming Cinema
• Audience Award Best Documentary at Rainbow Visions Film Festival