In recent years, a small but vocal minority of cisgender lesbians and feminists have attempted to sever the T from the LGB. They argue that trans women are infiltrators, that trans men are traitors, and that the fight for "same-sex attraction" is distinct from the fight for "gender identity."

This post is for the trans elder who remembers Stonewall, the baby trans kid debating their first binder, and the cisgender ally trying to figure out how to hold space without taking up space. Let’s talk about the deep roots, the cultural friction, and the unbreakable solidarity that defines trans life inside the LGBTQ mosaic. Before we talk about pronouns and puberty blockers, we have to talk about history. Pop culture loves to credit the gay cisgender men of the 1970s for liberation, but the spark that lit the fire was transgender. Specifically, Black and Latina trans women.

So to my trans siblings reading this: You belong here. You always have. The riots, the ballrooms, the clinics, the chat rooms—they all exist because someone like you refused to disappear.