New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

is home to the largest metropolitan

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

population in the world, estimated at more than 50,000 in 2018, with concentrations in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. The Brooklyn Liberation March, the largest transgender rights demonstration in history, took place on June 14, 2020 in Brooklyn, focused on supporting Black transgender rights and drew an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 participants. Despite playing a significant role in advocating for LGBTQ equality since the 1969

Stonewall Riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

and beyond, the transgender community in New York City has frequently been marginalized and abandoned by the city's broader

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

, and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

communities. Since Stonewall, particularly in the 21st century, New York City's transgender community has grown in both size and prominence.

History

1960s and 70s

During the Stonewall Riots, when violence erupted, the women and transmasculine people held at the

New York Women's House of Detention New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

down the street joined in by chanting, setting fire to their belongings, and tossing them into the street below. According to ''Transgender History'' by

Susan Stryker Susan O'Neal Stryker (born 1961) is an American professor, historian, author, filmmaker, and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality. She is a professor of Gender and Women's Studies, former director of the Institute for LGBT St ...

, the Stonewall Riots had significant effects on transgender rights activism.

Sylvia Rivera Sylvia Rivera (July 2, 1951 – February 19, 2002) was an American gay liberation and transgender activism, transgender rights activist September 21, 1995. Accessed July 24, 2015. who was also a noted community worker in LGBT history in New Yo ...

and Marsha P. Johnson founded the

Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) was an organization founded by Stonewall veterans Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson in the wake of the Weinstein Hall occupation to advocate for LGBTQ rights. Taking influence from contemporar ...

(STAR) in response to what they saw as inadequate representation of trans people within the

Gay Activists Alliance The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) was founded in New York City on December 21, 1969, almost six months after the Stonewall riots, by dissident members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). In contrast to the Liberation Front, the Activists Alliance ...

and the

Gay Liberation Front Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK, Australia and Canada. The GLF p ...

. They established politicized versions of "houses," a concept originating from Black and Latino queer communities, to provide shelter for marginalized transgender youth. In addition to STAR, other organizations such as Transvestites and Transsexuals and the

Queens Liberation Front Queens Liberation Front (QLF) was a homophile group primarily focused of transvestite and drag queens rights advocacy organization in New York City. QLF was formed in 1969 and active in the 1970s. They published ''Drag Queens: A Magazine About ...

(QLF) were also formed. QLF, founded by

Lee Brewster Lee Greer Brewster (April 27, 1943 – May 19, 2000) was an American drag queen, transgender activist, and retailer. He was a founding member of the pre-Stonewall activist group, Queens Liberation Front. In the 1970s and 1980s, he published ''Dra ...

and Barbara de Lamere (formerly known as Bunny Eisenhower), participated in

Christopher Street Liberation Day The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ community in New York City. The largest pride parade and the largest pride event in the world, the NYC Pride March attracts tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewa ...

marches and advocated for trans visibility and against drag erasure.

1990s and 2000s

Drawing inspiration from Johnson and Rivera's "houses", activist

Rusty Mae Moore Rusty Mae Moore (October 25, 1941 – February 23, 2022) was an American transgender rights activist and educator. She ran a de facto homeless shelter for transgender people in the 1990s and 2000s, known as the Transy House. One such resident was ...

created Transy House, an informal shelter at her rowhouse in Park Slope. Transy House operated from the 1990s through the 2000s. Residents included Sylvia Rivera.

2020s

Originally, the U.S.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

website for the

Stonewall National Monument Stonewall National Monument is a U.S. national monument in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The designated area includes the Stonewall Inn, the Christopher Park, and nearby streets including ...

included references to transgender and queer communities. Following the signing of

Executive Order 14168 Executive Order 14168, titled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government", is an executive order issued by Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, the day of his second inauguration as pre ...

by U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in 2025, which directed federal agencies and federally funded entities to cease promotion of

gender ideology The anti-gender movement is a global phenomenon that opposes concepts often referred to as "gender ideology" or "gender theory". These loosely-defined terms are commonly used by the movement to critique a range of issues related to gender equ ...

, all mentions of transgender and queer individuals were removed from the website. On the same day, The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative and the

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn (also known as Stonewall) is a gay bar and recreational tavern at 53 Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It was the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which led to th ...

issued a joint statement criticizing the removal of content, highlighting the role of trans people, particularly non-white trans women, in the Stonewall Riots and the broader LGBTQ+ rights movement. The statement specifically mentioned Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and other transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals as central figures in the historical events. Efforts have since emerged to restore references to transgender and queer history on the Stonewall National Monument website. Meanwhile, New York State’s official LGBTQ monument on the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

shoreline has maintained its inclusion of transgender and queer historical narratives.

Ball culture

Ball culture is an underground subculture of mostly Black and Latino LGBTQ people, originating in Harlem, New York. Cross dressing balls have existed in the city since the 1800s; the Hamilton Lodge Ball in 1869 is the first recorded drag ball in US history. In the 1970s,

Crystal LaBeija Crystal LaBeija (born 1930s, died 1990s) was an American drag queen and trans woman who co-founded the House of LaBeija in 1968. The House is often credited as starting the house system in ball culture. She became a mother figure for homeless L ...

and her friend Lottie (both Black queens) founded the House of LaBeija, the first house. The subculture's distinctive system of gender categorization reflects the presence of transgender people. Transgender women are classified as "Femme Queens", and transgender men are generally classified as "Butch", alongside other female-assigned people with a masculine appearance. Some trans men who identify as gay men move into the "Butch Queen" (gay man) category. Notable transgender members of the New York City ball scene include Venus Xtravaganza, a femme queen who appeared in the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning, and

Angie Xtravaganza Angie Xtravaganza (October 17, 1964 – March 31, 1993) was a co-founder and Mother of the House of Xtravaganza. A prominent transgender performer in New York City, New York City's Ball culture, gay ball culture, Xtravanganza featured in the acc ...

, the founder of the House of Xtravaganza.

Notable locations

For decades, the

Christopher Street Pier The Christopher Street Pier is a group of piers in Hudson River Park on the Hudson River waterfront of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, numbered 42, 45, 46, and 51. "Christopher Street Pier" usually refers specifically to Pier 45 op ...

has served as an informal gathering place for transgender New Yorkers. Documentaries such as Paris is Burning (1990) and Pier Kids (2019) feature footage of the pier and interviews with transgender people who socialize there. In 2000, FIERCE formed as a community organization for LGBT youth in the surrounding waterfront area, producing a documentary that highlighted problems like frequent youth interactions with security personnel and a lack of investment in services for homeless people, which they contrasted with the city's investment in a redevelopment project.

Notable figures

File:Laverne Cox by Sachyn Mital cropped.jpg,

Laverne Cox Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBTQ advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series '' Orange Is the New Black'', becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a ...

File:LARGE Head Shot of Yasmine Petty.jpg,

Yasmine Petty Yasmine Petty is an American model. Petty mostly works as a runway and editorial fashion model in addition to having worked as an actress and photographer. Petty has modeled at international events such as New York Fashion Week and Life Ball. ...

File:Aaron Philip on 30 October 2024 (cropped).jpg, Aaron Rose Philip File:Teddy Quinlivan Paris Fashion Week Autumn Winter 2019.jpg, Teddy Quinlivan File:Geena Rocero for Chromat.jpg, Geena Rocero File:Mj_Rodriguez_Christmas_Lives_Within_You_2020.png,

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez Michaela Antonia Jaé Rodriguez (born January 7, 1991), formerly known as Mj Rodriguez, is an American actress and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Rodriguez attended several performing arts schools in her youth before being cast in a theate ...

File:Abby Stein 20191203-8712 (cropped).jpg,

Abby Stein Rabbi Abby Chava Stein (; born October 1, 1991) is an Israeli-American author, rabbi, activist, blogger, model, and public speaker. A member of New York's ultra orthodox Jewish community and an ordained rabbi, Stein made headlines after she cam ...

References

{{reflist, 30em LGBTQ culture in New York City LGBTQ culture Transgender topics