The modern movement was sparked by trans women of colour.
Today, the transgender community is at the epicenter of a fierce political and legal battle in the United States. The year 2025 was a particularly challenging one, with over 600 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures. Many of these targeted transgender people directly, seeking to erase their dignity and villainize them out of public life.
The transgender spectrum includes:
Within LGBTQ+ culture, this distinction is vital. A transgender person can be gay, straight, bisexual, or asexual. By including the transgender community, the LGBTQ+ movement acknowledges that liberation requires dismantling both "heteronormativity" (the assumption that everyone is straight) and "cisnormativity" (the assumption that everyone identifies with the sex they were assigned at birth). Cultural Contributions and Language