LGBTQ culture used to be about finding your static identity—gay, lesbian, bisexual. Trans culture introduced the idea of flux . It said that you don’t have to decide forever today. You can try a pronoun, a haircut, a name. You can be a he/him for a decade and a they/them tomorrow.

That fluidity is terrifying to conservatives, but to the queer community, it is oxygen. The relationship between the transgender community and LGBTQ culture is no longer one of uneasy roommates. It is one of mutual evolution. The transgender community has forced the rainbow to grow new colors—not just pink, lavender, and blue, but the white stripe of the trans flag, representing those who are transitioning, who are non-binary, who are becoming.

LGBTQ culture has responded by putting the T front and center. Pride parades are now led by trans marchers. The most watched episodes of queer media ( Heartstopper, POSE, Umbrella Academy ) center trans narratives. If you strip away the legal battles and look only at the soul of the culture, the transgender contribution is this: The permission to change.