Trans people have always been part of queer history, though often erased or misunderstood.
: This includes trans men, trans women, and non-binary individuals, as well as identities like agender and gender-fluid.
, a Black trans woman and self-identified drag queen, and Sylvia Rivera , a Latina trans woman and activist, were on the front lines of the resistance against police brutality. When the mainstream gay rights movement of the 1970s attempted to push trans people aside to appear more "respectable" to cisgender society, Johnson and Rivera refused to go away. Rivera famously shouted at a gay rally in 1973: “You all tell me, ‘Go and hide in the back, because you’re too striking for us.’ I have been beaten. I have had my nose broken. I have been thrown in jail. I have lost my job. I have lost my apartment for gay liberation, and you all treat me this way?”
The push for gender-neutral pronouns (they/them/ze) and inclusive language originated within trans and non-binary circles and has since permeated mainstream corporate and social environments.