These transgender pioneers understood something that would become a cornerstone of LGBTQ culture: the fight for sexual orientation is inseparable from the fight for gender identity. A gay man in a suit could potentially "pass" as straight. A trans woman of color in 1969 could not. Her very existence was an act of rebellion against a society that demanded rigid, binary gender conformity.
These transgender pioneers understood something that would become a cornerstone of LGBTQ culture: the fight for sexual orientation is inseparable from the fight for gender identity. A gay man in a suit could potentially "pass" as straight. A trans woman of color in 1969 could not. Her very existence was an act of rebellion against a society that demanded rigid, binary gender conformity.