Beloved Trans Icon And Activist Mama Gloria Dies At 76: “Forever in the Hearts of Many”
June 15, 2022Trans activist Gloria Allen, whose big heart made her a local legend in Chicago, has died. She was 76.
The news was shared Monday on the Instagram account for Mama Gloria, an award-winning documentary about Allen's life.
“Our beloved Mama G has passed on,” read the post. “We will miss you eternally, Gloria.”
“There are so many lessons to be found in your time on this Earth,” the post continued. “Through your story, we have found new meaning in the word love. Rest peacefully in love and light, sweet Gloria. You are forever in the hearts of many. ❤️”
“It's only fitting that Mama Gloria Allen's last day on Earth would be during Pride Month,” Luchina Fisher, the director of Mama Gloria, told People. “She lived as an unapologetically proud Black transgender woman before Stonewall and before the word transgender even existed. And her 76 years on this Earth is proof that Black trans women can live long, meaningful and joyous lives when they have the love and support of their families, as Gloria did.”
“Being able to share her story with the world was the gift of a lifetime. It brought me such joy to see her get her flowers, to know that she mattered to the world and that her voice will live on through our film Mama Gloria,” added Fisher. “She touched so many people around the world, and she died being honored and celebrated the way a legend should be.”
Her body was discovered on Monday morning at her apartment in Chicago's Townhall Apartments, an LGBTQ+ senior living facility, according to the Dallas Voice. The newspaper reported that it is believed she died peacefully in her sleep.
Growing up as a transgender girl “was rough in the '50s and '60s, but I was tough,” the trans pioneer said in an interview featured in last year's Pride Issue.
It would take several decades (and surviving several abusive relationships) before she found stability and her chosen family at Townhall Apartments.
“Mama Gloria has brought so much joy to this building,” neighbor Carolyn Davis, a home health aide, said an interview in 2021. “We thank God for her.”
Allen also created a charm school for gay and transgender kids, many of whom were living on the streets of Chicago, because she “wanted to teach them to be proud.”
At the school, she offered “lessons on love, makeup, and manners that she received from her mother and grandmother,” according to the Dallas Voice. In return, she was given the affectionate nickname Mama Gloria.
In addition to being the subject of the documentary Mama Gloria, her life inspired the 2018 play Charm.
As she said last year, “We should not be treated differently because of who we love and who we are. That's what the LGBTQ community teaches you. Stand tall and stand proud. We are always here for each other.”
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