Do you identify as a member of the trans community? How do you see your relationship with the broader LGBTQ+ culture? Let us know in the comments.

LGBTQ+ culture is a mosaic. Remove the pieces representing trans lives—their joy, their struggle, their art, their resilience—and the whole picture crumbles.

To understand LGBTQ+ history is to understand trans history. Yet, the relationship between the trans community and the broader queer culture is complex: one of deep solidarity, shared struggle, and at times, necessary reckoning.

When many people see the acronym LGBTQ+, they often mentally stop at the “L,” the “G,” or the “B.” But the “T”—for transgender, transsexual, and two-spirit people—is not just a supporting character in this story. The trans community is, and has always been, a pillar of queer culture.