The lesson is clear: an attack on a trans child’s right to exist is an attack on every queer person’s right to authenticity. The LGBTQ community is increasingly unified under the banner of and "Gender Affirming Care is Healthcare." Allyship Within the Acronym For the LGBTQ culture to thrive, internal allyship is critical. Cisgender queer people must recognize that while they may face homophobia, they do not face transphobia —which includes unique horrors like medical gatekeeping, legal erasure of identity, and epidemic levels of violence. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 2024 was the deadliest year on record for transgender Americans, with the majority of victims being Black and Latina trans women.
This has forced the broader LGBTQ culture into a defensive and activist posture once again. Many cisgender gay and lesbian people, who had begun to enjoy a sense of normalcy, now recognize that the rights of the entire community are contingent on the protection of its most vulnerable members. The "don't say gay" bills targeting classroom discussion of sexuality almost always include language restricting discussion of gender identity.
The most cited catalyst for gay liberation is the Stonewall Uprising of 1969 in New York City. While mainstream history often focuses on gay men, the vanguard of the resistance included transgender activists and drag queens like Marsha P. Johnson (a self-identified drag queen, transvestite, and gay liberationist) and Sylvia Rivera (a founder of the Gay Liberation Front who fought tirelessly for trans inclusion). Rivera’s famous rallying cry, "Gay Power!," was always delivered with an asterisk: she fought vehemently against the mainstream gay movement’s tendency to abandon drag queens and trans people to appease heterosexual society.