The history of LGBTQ+ culture is inseparable from the history of transgender people. While modern terminology like "transgender" only gained widespread use in the 1960s and 70s , gender-nonconforming individuals have been documented across cultures for millennia. From the Two-Spirit identities in Indigenous North American cultures to the Hijra communities in South Asia, trans-inclusive roles have long existed outside the Western gender binary.
The popular narrative of LGBTQ history often begins with the Stonewall Riots of 1969. While mainstream media has historically focused on cisgender gay men like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, modern historians are unequivocal: thick shemale galleries free