This argument is historically illiterate. The transgender community and the gay/lesbian community have always shared the same enemies: the closet, conversion therapy, housing discrimination, and the gender binary imposed by society. When a gay man is told to "act like a man," he is being policed by the same transphobic system that tells a trans woman she is "really a man."
LGBTQ culture has responded by building mutual aid networks. When the medical establishment refused to treat HIV/AIDS patients in the 1980s, it was trans women and gay men who held the hands of the dying. Today, when homeless shelters turn away trans youth, it is the LGBTQ community—through organizations like The Trevor Project and the Ali Forney Center—that steps in.
This shift has also transformed art and performance. While drag (a performance of gender) has long been a staple of gay culture, the blurring lines between drag performer, trans woman, and non-binary person have created a renaissance in queer aesthetics. Shows like Pose (which centers on the trans and gay ballroom culture of the 1980s) and Disclosure (a documentary on trans representation in Hollywood) have educated millions about the nuances of gender. To write about the transgender community without discussing the crisis of violence would be irresponsible. According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 32 transgender or gender non-conforming people were killed in the U.S. in a recent 12-month period—a number that is likely underreported due to misgendering in police reports. The majority of these victims are Black and Latina trans women.
