Transgender people have existed across all cultures and eras, from the Muxe in Mexico to the Hijra in South Asia. In the West, trans women of color like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were instrumental in the early liberation movement.
The community is not a monolith. It includes trans men, trans women, and non-binary or genderqueer individuals. Transitions can be social (changing names/pronouns), medical (hormones or surgery), or legal, though not every trans person pursues every path.
Queer culture has profoundly influenced mainstream music, fashion, and theater. Examples range from the Harlem Ballroom scene of the 1980s (which gave us "voguing") to the explosion of drag as a global performance art.
The transgender community includes individuals whose gender identity—their internal sense of being male, female, or another gender—differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.