New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG) co-founder and executive director Kiara St. James, one of the driving forces behind the passage of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), passed away from cancer on May 8, 2026.
A tireless LGBTQ+ advocate, St. James spent years working to pass GENDA (a New York law that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or expression), which was finally enacted in 2019, and she also successfully advocated for initiatives like the repeal of the so-called “walking while trans” law and the establishment of the Lorena Borjas Transgender & Gender Non Binary Wellness and Equity Fund, a statewide fund to support trans individuals in New York.
Much of that work was carried out through NYTAG, which St. James officially organized NYTAG alongside co-founder, fellow activist, and close friend Tanya Walker.
“We met outside the Port Authority, in the ‘90s,” Walker said in a phone call with Gay City News. “[St. James] had two long ponytails in her hair, and a face like a Cabbage Patch doll…I thought, who is this? She looks like she’s lost!”
While working for Housing Works in the summer of 2013, St. James learned about the brutal killing of Islan Nettles, a transgender woman who was beaten to death after a man was mocked by his friends for flirting with her. Outrage from this attack, as well as other acts of hate and violence targeting Black trans women, drove St. James to become more outspoken and focused on her community work.
“We used to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning, 2 o’clock in the morning, and I would have to go get the van,” Walker said. “And I would take the other girls — cisgender and trans, and celebrities — up to Albany to fight for the Gender Non-Discrimination Act with Kiara.”
Yanery Cruz, now the executive director of the City Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, worked with St. James as the director of advocacy and programs at NYTAG. She said St. James made a point to be present and involved throughout the group’s operations, even at a rally for Islan Nettles during which she was physically uncomfortable.
“[St. James] felt a calling and a passion to speak about the injustice that happened to [Nettles] and that’s just a testimony to her as an individual, her willingness to put cause before her own self,” Cruz said in an interview with Gay City News. “It was really powerful to see firsthand.”
While NYTAG was founded in 2014, St. James officially established it as a grassroots 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2015. Today, NYTAG is dedicated to providing services that uplift and empower transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers, earning the attention and respect of lawmakers across the state and country.
“I was proud to know her and fight alongside her,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a May 8 post on X.
St. James was likely in her early 50s when she died, although her exact birthdate is unknown. At the time of her passing, St. James served on the NYC Commission on Gender Equity, the Transgender Law Center’s Positively Trans National Advisory Board, the Black Women Health Initiative board, and on the board of the Monica Roberts Resource Center in Houston, Texas.
NYTAG mourned St. James in an Instagram post announcing her death. The organization hailed St. James as “a relentless force for justice whose work transformed countless lives across New York State and beyond.”
“Her legacy lives on in every life she touched, every barrier she helped dismantle, and every voice she uplifted,” NYTAG wrote. “We are profoundly grateful for her courage, her vision, and her unwavering commitment to justice. We remain steadfast and dedicated to carrying forward the mission she so passionately advanced as stewards of her legacy.”
Other organizations, including the statewide LGBTQ group New Pride Agenda, also praised St. James’ legacy.
“New Pride Agenda is heartbroken by the passing of Kiara St. James — a founder and a true architect of trans liberation,” New Pride Agenda wrote in an Instagram post. “Kiara was a force who built New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG), frontlined the effort to pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) and the Repeal of Walking While Trans Ban, and helped advocate for the Lorena Borjas Trans Wellness and Equity Fund. She has left her fingerprints on every win in our community. Rest in Power, Kiara.”
“Her activism changed New York for the better and has made it possible for countless trans people to live more openly, safely, and authentically in our city and state,” The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (The Center) wrote in a May 8 Instagram post.
Part of St. James’ legacy will forever rest in NYTAG’s logo, a blooming lotus flower, which Walker said was a deliberate choice.
“She always loved the lotus flower, I think, because the lotus flower opens in the morning every day,” Walker said.
