While mainstream gay rights groups tried to play "respectable," Marsha and Sylvia were fighting for the most marginalized: homeless queer youth, drag queens, and trans sex workers. They understood that none of us are free until all of us are free. Their legacy reminds us that LGBTQ culture was not built in boardrooms—it was built in the streets, by those who had nothing left to lose.

While we share a common history, it is vital to acknowledge that the trans community faces a different scale of crisis today. As I write this, legislative attacks on trans healthcare, bathroom bans, and anti-drag laws are sweeping across the country.

You cannot tell the story of modern LGBTQ+ rights without transgender women of color. The 1969 Stonewall Uprising, which many mark as the birth of the gay liberation movement, was led by trans activists like and Sylvia Rivera .

LGBTQ culture without the trans community is like a rainbow without violet. It’s incomplete. As we move forward, the community must double down on its founding principle:

Because of this, LGBTQ culture is currently in a state of reckoning. Are we a community that stands united, or one that throws the "T" under the bus for political acceptance?

To understand LGBTQ+ culture today—from Pride parades to drag brunches to the fight for marriage equality—you have to understand the history, struggles, and triumphs of transgender people. They aren't just a letter in the alphabet. They are the backbone of the movement.

Transgender people—specifically Black and Latina trans women—face epidemic levels of violence. The fight for a gay man to get married is not the same as the fight for a trans woman to simply exist in public without fear.