While the broader LGBTQ community has largely won the battle for same-sex marriage, the trans community is fighting for the right to basic, evidence-based medical care. Across the United States and parts of Europe, legislators are banning gender-affirming care for minors—care that is supported by every major medical association, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The transgender community does not merely belong to LGBTQ culture; it is the culture’s conscience. It reminds a sometimes-assimilationist gay and lesbian mainstream that the "T" is not a footnote. It is the radical insistence that you do not need to be born in the right body to live a right life.

Moreover, the concept of intersectionality —coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw—is lived reality for trans people of color. Within LGBTQ culture, trans activists have consistently pushed back against single-issue politics. They argue that you cannot separate homophobia from transphobia, racism from classism, or misogyny from the violence faced by trans feminine people.