In November, Xtra<\/em>\u2019s parent company, Pink Triangle Press, hosted its second annual Pink Awards ceremony, which also celebrates champions and changemakers in the queer and trans community. On the pink carpet<\/a>, we asked queer elders about the political moment we\u2019re in. Again and again, they said that we\u2019ve been here before, and we\u2019ll prevail again. That politics and acceptance happen in waves. Consistently, their message was to soldier on and not give up the fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that in mind, moving forward with fight, we bring you our righteous queens and shady bitches of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cole Escola was inescapable this year\u2014and praise Mary for that. The non-binary actor and writer has been a notorious scene-stealer among queer fans for years: from their pastiche YouTube videos<\/a>, to their electrifying turn in Please Baby Please<\/em><\/a>, to their eerie performance in Search Party<\/em><\/a>. But Escola finally broke into the mainstream with their smash hit Broadway play Oh, Mary!<\/em>, which continues to<\/a> break records and has employed one of the greatest examples of stunt casting<\/a> in recent memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In June, Escola won the<\/a> Tony Award for Best Lead Actor in a Play for Oh, Mary!<\/em>, becoming the third non-binary actor to win an acting Tony\u2014and making history as the first non-binary person to win in a lead acting category. Escola also charmed audiences this year with their dual performance as Old Slippy and Nan in Julian Glander\u2019s atmospheric animated film Boys Go to Jupiter<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the rest of the world wakes up to Escola\u2019s brilliance, 2026 seems like it will be another fruitful year for the performer. They\u2019re set to join Netflix\u2019s live-action One Piece<\/em> series<\/a> as Bon Clay and are writing a movie about the world\u2019s most glamorous Muppet, Miss Piggy<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Cody Corrall, social video producer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s been a grim fall for trans rights in Alberta, as premier Danielle Smith invoked the Notwithstanding Clause<\/a> to shield her government\u2019s three anti-trans laws\u2014which take aim at gender-affirming care for youth, trans women in sports and school pronoun policies\u2014from legal challenge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Legal experts have called it a gross overreach and misuse of the clause. But Smith only did that in the first place because these policies have<\/em> been challenged fiercely and extensively in the courts thanks to the work of groups like Egale Canada<\/a> and the Calgary-based Skipping Stone Foundation<\/a>. Multiple challenges have been filed related to the laws in the past year, urging courts to overturn them on the basis of their violating the rights of trans people in Alberta. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the Notwithstanding Clause now in effect, these challenges can\u2019t result in the laws being overturned as violations of Charter rights. But these challenges can continue to draw attention to the fact that they should. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A similar situation has played out in Saskatchewan, where Premier Scott Moe has invoked the clause to protect his pronoun law. But the Regina-based UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity filed a legal challenge, arguing that the law violates the rights of gender-diverse youth. Saskatchewan\u2019s Court of Appeal ruled that the challenge can continue<\/a> even with the clause in effect, and now it\u2019s headed to the Supreme Court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So the groups putting time and effort into these challenges do matter, even if premiers are pushing the nuclear button to ensure their laws can continue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s going to be a long couple of years, but groups like Skipping Stone and Egale have shown that they are not willing to back down, and trans youth in Alberta are lucky to have them in their corners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Mel Woods, senior editor, audience engagement <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, known as Miss Major, passed away in October at age 78. Best known as a Stonewall veteran, Miss Major was an activist and community organizer dedicated to justice and safety for the LGBTQ2S+ community, especially Black trans women, for decades. Xtra<\/em> paid tribute to her<\/a> in her own words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Miss Major was an AIDS activist through the 1980s and \u201990s and an abolitionist and harm reduction advocate. She was the founder of House of gg<\/a>, an organization serving BIPOC trans people in the U.S. South; and served as the director of the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She is the subject of the 2015 documentary Major!<\/em> by director Annalise Ophelian and the short film The Personal Things<\/em> by Tourmaline. She was an executive producer of the 2021 docuseries Trans in Trumpland<\/em>. In 2022 she co-authored a memoir, Miss Major Speaks<\/em><\/a>: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Miss Major was a vocal former sex worker and activist for the rights of sex workers; she survived incarceration and fought for others who did, and against police brutality. She was a mother figure to many younger trans women of colour, positing that women like them had existed since the beginning of time. She was unafraid to call out prejudice against trans people from the mainstream or within the queer community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She is mourned by her five children; partner Beck Witt Major; and a large community of co-organizers, admirers and mentees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the words of Miss Major: \u201cWith all that we\u2019ve gone through, we\u2019re still there. We\u2019re still going to rise. We\u2019re still going to get up, dust ourselves off, change our outfit and go out there again, and again, and again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Tara-Michelle Ziniuk, managing editor <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nRighteous Queens<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Cole Escola<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
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Skipping Stone, Egale Canada and other groups filing legal challenges against anti-trans legislation in Canada<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
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Miss Major<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
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