“I lost my job at a church-affiliated school when I came out. But I gained my daughter—she’s 19 now and calls me Mom. The LGBTQ+ community saved my life. The older gay men taught me how to dress; the lesbians taught me how to fight.”

By J. Samuels Senior Culture Correspondent

As Sylvia Rivera, the trans activist who was pushed out of mainstream gay rights groups in the 1970s, once shouted from a rally stage: “We’re not going to go away. We’re going to be more visible. We’re going to be louder.”

The "bathroom bill" (laws requiring people to use facilities matching their sex assigned at birth) is not about safety—studies show no rise in bathroom assaults in jurisdictions with inclusive policies. It is about visibility. Forcing a trans man (who looks male) into a women's restroom creates danger, not safety.

—three years before Stonewall—saw trans women and drag queens fight back against police in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. This was the first recorded LGBTQ+ uprising in U.S. history.