The modern LGBTQ rights movement, born from the Stonewall Riots of 1969, is often mythologized as a unified uprising. In reality, while transgender activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera (both self-identified trans women and drag queens) were pivotal figures at Stonewall, early mainstream gay and lesbian organizations, such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, frequently sidelined trans issues (Stryker, 2008). The push for respectability politics—arguing that homosexuals were “normal” citizens deserving of rights—often led leaders to distance themselves from visibly gender-nonconforming individuals, who were seen as a liability. This resulted in the explicit exclusion of transgender people from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the 1990s, a betrayal that fractured the coalition.