There Is No LGB Without the T: Why Trans Rights Are Essential to Queer Liberation

There Is No LGB Without the T

In recent years, a troubling movement has emerged—one that seeks to separate the “LGB” from the “T.” This division is often framed as a way to “protect” lesbian, gay, and bisexual people from what some call the “excesses” of the transgender rights movement. But let’s be clear: this divide is artificial, ahistorical, and deeply harmful.

Trans People Have Always Led Queer Liberation

Trans people—especially Black and Brown trans women—have always been at the forefront of LGBTQ+ activism. The Stonewall Riots of 1969, often seen as the beginning of the modern queer rights movement, were led by trans icons like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. They fought against police brutality, systemic oppression, and the criminalization of queer existence.

To erase the “T” from our community is to erase them. It’s a rewriting of history that benefits the privileged while discarding those who risked everything to make our rights possible.

Homophobia and Transphobia Share the Same Roots

The oppression of LGB and trans people comes from the same place: rigid gender norms. Gay men were demonized for being “too feminine,” lesbians for being “too masculine”—it was never just about sexual orientation. It was about punishing anyone who stepped outside society’s rules for gender.

That’s the same force behind transphobia today. When we fight for trans rights, we’re fighting the same battle LGB people have always fought. We're fighting for the right to live authentically and without shame.

Division Weakens Us All

Splitting the LGB from the T isn’t about safety or protection—it’s about respectability politics. It’s about sacrificing the most marginalized to gain temporary approval from people who will never fully accept us. And history has shown that when we do that, we all lose.

There is no queer liberation without trans liberation. We rise together, or not at all.

There is no LGB without the T. There never was. There never will be.