The aesthetic and linguistic contributions of the transgender community to global pop culture are incalculable. Without the trans community, specifically Black and Latinx trans women, there would be no . There would be no "reading" or "shade." The entire lexicon of modern queer slang—from "spilling the tea" to "serving face"—originated in the underground ballroom scene of 1980s New York, a culture founded and fueled by trans women and gay men of color to create family structures (Houses) where biological families had rejected them.

"She looks like a queen," the woman continued, her eyes misty. "I’ve lived in this city for sixty years, and I never really her until now."

However, the mainstream LGBTQ establishment has largely rejected this gatekeeping. Organizations like GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Trevor Project have stated unequivocally:

You cannot discuss LGBTQ culture without discussing , an underground subculture created by Black and Latinx trans women and gay men in New York City in the 1960s-80s. Made famous by the documentary Paris is Burning (1990) and the TV series Pose (2018), ballroom gave the world: