: The term "transgender" emerged as an umbrella term in the 1960s to distinguish gender identity from sexual orientation. It eventually replaced more restrictive medicalized terms to encompass diverse identities like non-binary and genderqueer. Pioneering Figures : Activists such as Christine Jorgensen

(2013) have featured authentic transgender narratives played by trans actors.

Rivera, in particular, spent her life fighting for the inclusion of the most marginalized—transgender people, drag queens, and sex workers—within the gay liberation movement. Her famous "Y’all Better Quiet Down" speech in 1973, delivered at a gay rights rally where she was booed for demanding that the mainstream gay agenda include trans rights and gender-nonconforming people, highlights the foundational tension: The trans community was at the birth of LGBTQ culture, yet was repeatedly asked to step to the back.

Much of the media focus on the transgender community centers on trans women. Consequently, trans men and non-binary people often feel invisible within LGBTQ culture. While gay culture historically celebrated masculinity in women (butch lesbians) and femininity in men (effeminate gays), trans-masc individuals challenge the idea that "masculinity is only for cis men," and non-binary people challenge the very notion of a two-gender system. Their fight for recognition is happening primarily inside LGBTQ culture, not outside of it.